Examination of Witnesses (Questions 2240
- 2259)
2240. I think you will have inevitably a transcript
of what I have said and I will not seek to summarise what I have
said, other than to invite you not only in relation to the matter
of principle but also in relation to the matters of detailed protection,
to protect not only myself but, more importantly, the community
of Covent Garden from the problems that we foresee, and to ensure,
both by appropriate standards but also by specific measures, that
we do not suffer what we fear we might.
2241. Chairman: You have no witnesses?
2242. Mr McCracken: No, I am my own
witness, as it were.
2243. Chairman: Ms Lieven?
2244. Ms Lieven: Sir, I have got
a very few questions for Mr McCracken but before I ask them could
I just explain our position and seek guidance on one point from
you, sir. We have set out a petition response document to
Mr McCracken that deals with all his issues. It is a relatively
short document and I was simply going to seek to rely on that.
I am not going to cross-examine him on issues that arise in that.
They will arise in many other petitions and therefore would be
very repetitious to go through with each petitioner. There are
various points in the petition response document that I would
like to highlight to the Committee. I do not know whether the
Committee was intending—and it sounds a bit formalistic
in such a short part of the hearing—to allow me to make
a very brief closing just to highlight those paragraphs or whether
it would be better to do it now. I am entirely in the Committee's
hands.
2245. Chairman: The object of this
is that you make a case and then of course you would be allowed
to make a statement and I would imagine you would incorporate
that in either part of that and that would be very useful?
2246. Ms Lieven: In that case what
I will do is ask Mr McCracken a very few specific questions and
then I will make a short closing by reference to the petition
response document, which of course Mr McCracken has had for a
few weeks.
2247. Sir, I should make two other points before
I ask the questions. One is on the Environmental Statement I think
the Committee made clear on the first day that it certainly did
not want us to be producing evidence on that, as it were. If necessary,
at the end of the Committee hearings we will produce a further
note on the legal position on the Environmental Statement but
I am certainly not going to be entering into an esoteric cross-examination
on law with Mr McCracken about what he says or otherwise. I suspect
that would not help the Committee very much. I could suspect wrong
but I do not think it would.
2248. Chairman: I do not think it
would.
2249. Ms Lieven: I am very grateful,
sir. On noise, you will have a presentation on noise this afternoon
and on the issue of groundborne noise specifically, that is noise
from the trains passing to and fro, that is a matter that the
London Borough of Camden are raising and are the lead borough
on, so I am not going to cross-examine Mr McCracken on that because
that will be dealt with next week by the London Borough of Camden
and by our dealing with them. I hope that is acceptable.
2250. Chairman: It is certainly acceptable
to us. I would add Mr McCracken quite rightly, as far as he is
concerned, raised the matter of noise here and if you do not wish
to cross-examine him on that but to leave it to a later witness,
that is fine.
2251. Ms Lieven: Yes. So, Mr McCracken,
that leaves very few issues that I do want to raise with you.
You have raised a concern about the technical report not being
accessible. You may not be aware of this but the technical reports
are all on the Internet on the Crossrail site. Were you aware
of that?
2252. Mr McCracken: I do not regard
the availability of documents on the Internet as beginning to
satisfy the requirements of the Environmental Assessment Directive,
which is intended to enable ordinary people, who may not own computers
or have the most up-to-date programmes or be able to use them,
to access them. I could add to that in that I do have a computer
and I do use the Internet and I communicated with the negotiating
team. They sent through two documents to me which I could not
open because my programme was in some way incompatible with theirs.
So while I accept that these may be available on the Internet,
I do not think that begins to satisfy the requirements of the
Environmental Assessment Directive. I should add these documents
were not available in the library although I was told that they
were available in the library. The negotiating team said, "These
are available in the library." I went back to the library
because I did not think that I had seen them there and they were
not there in the library.
2253. Ms Lieven: Just for clarification;
is that the local library you are talking about?
2254. Mr McCracken: Yes, I am talking
about Westminster Reference Library.
2255. Ms Lieven: Obviously, sir,
we can take that up and check out the true position and make sure
the right documents are in the library.
2256. Mr McCracken: Forgive me but
that is the true position. I have told you what the true position
is. If there is to be any suggestion that what I have said is
not true I would want an opportunity to come back.
2257. Chairman: Mr McCracken, can
I just come back on that. I think the Promoter has said they are
going to check that out and report back to the Committee but we
have got to give them the credit for doing that for the Committee.
That is not to question yourself. It may be that maybe a member
of staff at the library mislaid them or does not know about them,
it could be any set circumstances, but I do not think the Promoter
or their representatives are implying that you are telling untruths
to the Committee.
2258. Ms Lieven: Absolutely not,
sir, thank you. The next point, Mr McCracken, if we can just go
back to the noise contour map just as a convenient map. In terms
of the part of Covent Garden lying between Shaftsbury Avenue and
Kingsway, the heart of Covent Garden (and I appreciate your definition
was Charing Cross Road to Kingsway) but just to take the heart
of it, Shaftsbury Avenue to Kingsway, there is no Crossrail construction
activity within that area other than passage of tunnel boring
machines cutting the tunnel. That is right as a matter of fact,
is it not?
2259. Mr McCracken: I am quite happy
to accept that.
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