Examination of Witnesses (Questions 3080
- 3099)
3080. So do you accept that it does not need
to be throughout the system?
(Mr Methold) I do not think it does.
Re-examined by Mr Clarkson
3081. Mr Clarkson: Can I ask for some
help first for the Committee about this £10.6 million which
is the first the Committee has heard and is the first that Mr
Methold has heard it and the first that we have heard of it? Could
we ask, through Mr Reuben Taylor, if we could have a document
that Mr Methold could look at and instruct us and in due course,
if necessary, the Committee, as to the efficacy of it?
3082. Chairman: Yes, I would agree.
3083. Mr Clarkson: Is it available now?
3084. Mr Taylor: I am afraid I do not
have that here. I have got one but it is in a different location.
I am sure we can make that available overnight.
3085. Chairman: And could we have a note
from yourself on that?
3086. Mr Taylor: Certainly. I will make
sure that it is available in the morning.
3087. Mr Clarkson: Sir, I hope I have
made it plain: it is fundamentally important that if Mr Rupert
Taylor is going to give evidence this afternoon as to £10.6
million, I trust, because that is the basis upon which the question
was put, the Committee needs to know whether that is a gross figure,
what the input is into it and what the basis of the costing is.
It is a very new and important aspect.
3088. Chairman: Mr Clarkson, can I reiterate
what was said earlier on this morning in that in the plea that
was made the day before why documents should be in the hands of
people at least 24 hours before, we have now introduced a new
system which hopefully will protect that in future. This has not
occurred on this occasion and therefore we are going to give you
a note and the document and if it is necessary for you to come
back with your witness we will be more than happy to oblige that.
3089. Mr Clarkson: I am grateful, sir.
Mr Methold, would you take up LBC17, which is your document? Do
you recall a question that was put to you by Mr Taylor towards
the end of the cross-examination on the basis that no evidence
that 35 would produce any material improvement compared with 40
dB(A)?
(Mr Methold) I do.
3090. Looking at LBC17, there is, do you see,
a difference between how residential buildings are treated, churches,
courts, theatres, lecture theatres, small auditoria, halls, at
35—with me?
(Mr Methold) I am.
3091. On that table is there any difference
being promoted between what can be heard in a church and what
can be heard in a residential dwelling?
(Mr Methold) Not a material
difference. There would be a slight difference of the characteristic
of it.
3092. The next question following from that
is, why is there a different level for those several lower standard
buildings?
(Mr Methold) I believe it
is because the Promoter is identifying them as more sensitive.
3093. And the rest of that I can take up with
Mr Rupert Taylor. Heading "Best Practicable Means",
please. You have it in your text but I will remind you broadly
of what the point is on BPM. Having regard amongst other things
to local conditions and circumstances, to the current state of
technical knowledge and to the financial implications. If the
Committee say that the standard should be 35 dB LAmax, what is
your advice as to whether it would be a requirement of best practicable
means to go below that when you have best practicable means defined
in the statute as having regard to local conditions and circumstances?
Would it be a requirement to go below it?
(Mr Methold) If best practicable
means dictated that the levels could be achieved within the confines
of reasonable cost and engineering technology it could be.
3094. The blue file of the Promoter, tab B,
table one, the lunchtime counts; have you got them?[9]
(Mr Methold) I have.
3095. Year?
(Mr Methold) 1969.
3096. Do you know what the sophistication of
measurement was 35 years ago?
(Mr Methold) I would hazard
a guess that it was using a swinging needle.
3097. Slow or fast?
(Mr Methold) I would imagine
it would be slow but it is not very clear in this document.
3098. Point of measurement?
(Mr Methold) I do not know.
3099. Rigour of measurement; do you know?
(Mr Methold) I do not think
we have the information here that enables us to understand whether
that is the worst case level recorded or whether it is an average
of a sample of measurements. One thing we have to bear in mind
is that you can get quite a variability between different train
times and speeds. This does not tell us very much about that at
all.
9 Crossrail Ref: P41, Table RMT 1: Complaints of railway
noise from the Victoria Line compiled in 1969 (CAMDLB-31904-006). Back
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