Examination of Witnesses (Questions 3400
- 3419)
3400. There is support to the Tower Hamlets
noise insulation and rehousing case, and may I say, in passing,
for the avoidance of doubt, that Westminster's position is exactly
the same as that of Camden in respect of the generic issues. At
2846 of the minutes they do not show accurately what Camden is
or is not supporting, but it may have been my fault. What I have
just rehearsed there for Westminster should have been rehearsed
for Camden as well.
3401. Paddington next. As I say, there are substantial
issues there. They are under discussion and we are hopeful, and
that will be dealt with at a later stage to tidy things up. So
we are left with one issue that we lay before you today and it
is a sub-point of the highway concerns expressed, for the minutes,
at Petition paragraph 26 and following. It is paragraph 31 and
I read it just as the best introduction: "A significant number
of on-street parking places, for which your Petitioners are responsible,
will be lost temporarily during the construction period and permanently
on completion of construction. The nominated undertaker should
ensure that alternative spaces (including bays for residents,
pay-and-display parking meters, taxis, motor-cycles and coaches)
should be made available nearby to replace lost spaces where this
is practicable, and to compensate the Petitioners for lost of
revenue."
3402. So the issue is (one) replace spaces where
practicable and (two) compensate for loss of revenue. This is
not original thinking by Westminster. What Westminster is seeking
is exactly what has to be done with an ordinary developer if an
ordinary developer takes car parking spaces. The figures are:
33 spaces will be lost (and this is from the environmental statement
8B paragraph 3, 5.39); 3 residents' spaces, motor-cycle bays for
up to 80 motor-cycles and a taxi rank for 12 taxis also will be
lost. They are heavily used and it is unlikely, we say, that they
can be replaced elsewhere.
3403. The cost is, over a four-year period,
we say, £1.7 million. Just, again, for the minute, the mathematics:
33 parking meters plus 3 residents' bays, 36; £4 an hour,
10 hours a day (8.30 to 6.30); six days a week, 52 weeks, four
years. Total sum: £1.7 million.
3404. I am going to call Mr Graham King, who
you met yesterday, and he will tell you the Westminster context,
introduce the issues on the route which are under discussion,
and I am going to ask him, if the Committee thinks it is helpful,
to go all the way to Paddington today by way of introduction simply
because if we come back to Paddington we do not have to take your
time in the future. We are here, it will introduce the matter
to the Committee and we will not have to do it again. While we
are here, we might as well use the time, if that is acceptable
to the Committee. It will not be very long.
3405. Chairman: Mr Elvin?
3406. Mr Elvin: I am quite happy with
that, Chairman.
3407. Mr Clarkson: The last point he
will tell you about is the narrow issue on parking spaces. Unless
there is anything I can deal with in opening, I will call Mr King.
3408. Chairman: Just before you do, Mr
Clarkson, Mr Elvin, do you have a brief cameo?
3409. Mr Elvin: Sir, we do not, for the
simple reason that Mr Clarkson and I were discussing the matter
over the last couple of days we knew the issue would come down
to the narrow one of car parking. We are intending to give an
undertaking with regard to over-site development today, on behalf
of the Secretary of State, and I would propose, if the Committee
wishes, to call very short evidence just to explain where we have
got to in terms of progressing over-site development, which is
a concern likely to come up again. Short of that, we were not
proposing to take you through the Westminster proposals since
you were not being asked to look at the Westminster proposals
in any detail. If the need should arise, next time Westminster
comes back, it did seem to us rather better we should do it when
you were actually having to deal with the matters on a site-specific
basis. If you would like something more than that—
Mr Clarkson: It would help Westminster
and the Committee and it may help Mr Elvin if the undertaking
as to over-site development has currency now and goes before the
Committee, and then I can ask Mr King to comment upon it. If it
suits him to introduce it.
3410. Mr Elvin: You should have a small
bundle of documents from us, P46. It is got the usual lengthy
page number references in green stamped on them as well. Sir,
if you would go through to, on the green markers, page 12, the
last page-but one, there is a note I prepared yesterday. Sir,
the Committee may recall that I touched on this very briefly in
opening sometime ago. The Secretary of State set out in one of
the information papers, which is referenced in this document,
D18, a draft undertaking that was proposed to be given, and the
Secretary of State qualified that in the light of discussions
with Westminster. It may not represent the final position and,
as we say in paragraph 3 of this note, it is subject to revisions
during the course of the Committee hearing to accommodate any
amendments to the Bill and, indeed, improve it.
3411. Sir, I will read the undertaking out if
that is convenient to the Committee, so it is read into the record.
"The Secretary of State will take steps to ensure that (1)
There is consultation with Local Planning Authorities prior to
submission of a planning application for OSD on: (a) the proposed
use, quantum, layout, scale, access, appearance and response to
context of the proposed OSD (including where appropriate co-operation
in the preparation of a Planning Brief and/or SPD) and (b) the
means by which the fundamental design elements of the new development
will be integrated with the Crossrail Works (including loadings,
support and access). (2) OSDs in or adjacent to Conservation Areas
will be designed in accordance with relevant national, regional,
spatial and local planning policies, and in consultation with
English Heritage. (3) In assessing the contribution that OSDs
will make to the character or enhancement of conservation areas
the quality of buildings that existed prior to demolition will
be a material consideration. (4) A planning application and accompanying
environmental statement for the proposed OSD is submitted as soon
as reasonably practicable and in any event no later than 2 years
after the commencement of construction of the Crossrail Works
on the site unless the Local Planning Authority agree to a deferral
or agree that an application is not required. (5) Reasonable endeavours
will be used to obtain planning consent by the date the works
for the new stations or railway on the sites are completed. (6)
Reasonable endeavours will be used to ensure that development
is commenced in accordance with the planning consents granted
once the works to the new stations or railway on the sites are
completed."
3412. Sir, that is the undertaking. If I might
just remind the Committee of the context, over-site development—that
is to say development which is not the operational development
of the shafts, stations and the like—is outside the Bill
powers and it is therefore left to the normal planning processes
and, therefore, lies within the control of the usual local planning
authorities, hence this undertaking is there to indicate that
the Secretary of State will take reasonable steps to ensure that
that is brought forward as soon as is reasonably practicable.
3413. Of course, as Mr Mould reminds me, because
it is part of the normal planning process OSD will involve the
normal planning procedures, separate environmental impact assessments
for the specific developments and the normal public consultation
that would go with any planning application. So, sir, that is
the context. Thank you, sir.
3414. Mr Clarkson: I am grateful. I call
Mr King.
Mr Graham King, sworn
Examined by Mr Clarkson
3415. Mr Clarkson: You are Graham King?
(Mr King) That is correct.
3416. You are Head of City Planning Group for
the City of Westminster's Planning and City Development Department.
Correct?
(Mr King) Correct.
3417. That includes specific responsibility
for strategic schemes, one of which is Crossrail.
(Mr King) That is so.
3418. You are a Chartered Town Planner, and
a Member of the Institute of Historic Building Conservation. You
have been involved, have you not, with a number of rail schemes,
involving Westminster?
(Mr King) Yes.
3419. What were they?
(Mr King) Since 1989 I have been involved in
the Heathrow Express scheme, which is the railway now in operation
at Paddington, the various proposals for the Jubilee line extension
including Green Park, as well as Crossrail first time round, and
for that matter a number of other railway projects to do with
the major termini in Westminster: Victoria, Marylebone, Charing
Cross and Paddington.
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