Examination of Witnesses (Questions 7912
- 7919)
7912. Chairman: Today we will continue
hearing the Petition of the London Borough of Greenwich, but,
before we start, can I just remind people who work here regularly
and those members of the public who are visiting that this morning
the Committee will adjourn at 11.45 so that members can leave
the Committee and go down to Prime Minister's Question Time. Mr
Jones?
Mr Robert Ian Chard, Recalled
Examination by Mr Jones, continued
7913. Mr Jones: We had reached section
3 in Mr Chard's proof. Mr Chard, could you turn to your section
3 please and could you read, starting at paragraph 3.1 please.
(Mr Chard) The scale and speed of possible
regeneration around any Crossrail station will be greatly influenced
by the accessibility changes which that station will deliver.
Accessibility can be defined as the ability of residents and businesses
using the station to get to jobs, customers, services or other
destinations within an acceptable journey time. Access to jobs
by commuters is probably the most important aspect of accessibility,
but the ability of local businesses and retailers to access customers
is also significant. In this evidence, I only consider accessibility
by public transport. Changes to accessibility occur when it becomes
possible to reach more jobs or more people within the same travel
time, or to reach the same numbers more quickly or cheaply. Usually,
all such changes occur when a new station is introduced in a new
location. Usually also, the consequential effect is a boost to
the local economy. The size of any accessibility change related
to a new station can vary considerably and so can the impact of
a new station as a consequence. Therefore, when a potential new
station is being considered, it is important to measure, and to
understand, the size of accessibility change because, in that
way, the potential economic and regeneration impacts of the station
can be better appreciated. Because accessibility change is multi-dimensional,
it is usually measured using computer modelling. For this evidence,
the Council appointed Capita Symonds to undertake accessibility
change modelling using their ACCESSION model. It was also decided
to use definitions and measures of accessibility which are compatible
with accessibility modelling undertaken by the Greater London
Authority and the Promoters so that comparisons can be made. The
key measures used were access to jobs within a 30-minute travel
time from a station and access to resident population within a
45-minute travel time, and in both cases by all or any public
transport. Comparisons were made between the current 2006 accessibility
and modelled 2016 accessibility, which include assumptions about
the availability of various new transport projects in London,
including Crossrail.
7914. I wonder if Mr Chard's slide 3 could now
be put up please.[1]
(Mr Chard) Initially two situations
were considered: Crossrail with Abbey Wood station, but not Woolwich
station; and Crossrail with both Abbey Wood and Woolwich stations.
7915. That is your figure 3 and you can see
that it says, "Woolwich without a Crossrail station",
and I wonder if you could just talk us through that figure please.
(Mr Chard) Yes, you can see the Woolwich station
with the symbol and this shows the journey times that the model
calculates for 2016 when various new infrastructure and services
will be in place in London. It shows that you cannot reach central
London in 15 minutes and it shows also that you cannot reach all
of London even travelling for 60 minutes, which is the blue colour,
so the areas are related to the population numbers and the job
numbers which you can reach within various time bands. This is
a two-dimensional measure of accessibility, whereas yesterday
the accessibility was quoted in linear terms along the Crossrail
route.
7916. So obviously this includes a lot of places
which are not on the Crossrail route and indeed places which do
not even have a station?
(Mr Chard) Yes, it takes account of the other
rail services and bus services which are assumed to be available
in 2016 and would allow you to make the journeys within these
times shown.
7917. Of course one can see within it small
dots which are slightly larger pink within the red and small dots
and slightly larger red within the green and so on. Are those
stations?
(Mr Chard) Yes.
7918. Can we now move to the next slide please,
slide 4, which is, I think, Woolwich with a Crossrail station
and obviously what matters is the difference?[2]
Can you just deal with that please, Mr Chard?
(Mr Chard) This shows that all
the areas in pink increase because Crossrail can take you faster
to many destinations and Crossrail, in combination with other
public transport through the Crossrail interchanges, can take
passengers to a very much larger area of London within various
time bands. In particular, you will see that the red, which is
less than 30 minutes, now covers the centre of London, the central
area of the City and parts of the West End which it did not previously,
and it does not just cover the Crossrail stations, but it covers
the area you see there in red. We have also got tables which tell
us the number of people and the number of jobs which are currently
within these areas which have different colours.
7919. You mentioned a difference to the City
and the West End, but what about the difference made to the Isle
of Dogs?
(Mr Chard) You can also see that that changes
to less than 15 minutes and that is particularly important, I
think, for the regeneration of Woolwich.
1 Committee Ref: A84, Woolwich without Crossrail Station
2016 Journey Times (GRCHLB-3605-327). Back
2
Committee Ref: A84, Woolwich with Crossrail Station 2016 Journey
Times (GRCHLB-3605-328). Back
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