Examination of Witnesses (Questions 11040
- 11059)
11040. Mr Seed: I would like to summarise
that we believe that Spitalfields Housing Association is uniquely
placed to enter into a partnership with Crossrail in terms of
helping with the consultation process. We have a very good dialogue
with our tenants and we can perhaps assist in that consultation
process.
11041. Mr Mould: I have no questions
for Mr Uddin. All I wanted to say was that so far as the concerns
that have been expressed, we have sought to explain to the Committee
and to justify the proposals that we have in the area of Spitalfields
and also to explain how we will seek to minimise as far as we
reasonably can to control the impact of those proposals. Mr Elvin
as you know is going to say more about that in summing up our
case when he comes to do so. I should say that the offer that
was just made by Mr Uddin, to assist the promoter in continuing
consultation in the local area, is an offer that we receive very
favourably indeed and we will look to work with the Association.
11042. Chairman: You will re-establish
a regular mechanism as soon as possible?
11043. Mr Mould: I am sure we will and
it is clearly made in a positive spirit and we receive it in that
way. The other thing that perhaps would be helpful is to mention
this in the light of the point that was made in summing up before
the witness took the stand. The concern is you understand what
range of compensation provision would be available to the Association
of Landowners in relation to the scheme. As you know we presented
to the Committee, I think it was last week, day 38, a paper, A111
which is the note on compensation, the illustrations of compensation.
It seems to me it would he very helpful if we were to provide
a copy of that to the housing association so they can look at
that and it may give them some guidance on what we think the range
of provision might be unless there is anything else.
11044. Chairman: Could I ask a couple
of questions. We have had evidence given to us about the lack
of consultation and to be fair to the promoters they have accepted
that it was not the best of all consultation exercises carried
out and we have been given assurances that in the future this
will improve dramatically but one of the things that worried me
by some of the evidence that has already been given, parts of
the Bangladeshi community have different languages, there is not
just one language that the Bangladeshi community speak. There
are parts of the community which different accents and so on.
Evidence was given that they felt totally out of the circle as
far as this country, they knew nothing at all about Crossrail
or had any information. Is it your view that that is a problem?
(Mr Uddin) That is a concern there and I think
people who are interested went along and attended meetings and
discussed the matter. There is this fear now that it does not
matter what we do and how we do, this is not acceptable to us.
Generally speaking of course Crossrail is a good thing for London,
for our community, for our nation but I think people question
why this has to be Spitalfields, why not elsewhere? It looks at
the question of why did the government inject so much money because
we could not have done what has been done over the years and in
our view it is a waste of resources.
11045. Chairman: Your answer in brief
is that the Bangladeshi community were aware and are aware of
Crossrail but they do not understand the level of investment and
what is going to happen. The second question is in relation to
that. When we visited the area and since, indeed today, there
have been different views on timescales on buildings and construction
projects and there are still six or seven years. Clearly the Committee
is being advised very differently than that. Yes, the whole project
will take a number of years but it will not be every where, it
will not concentrate totally on the whole of this area it will
be in parts of London at certain times. Do you still think or
does the Bangladeshi community largely think that it is going
to be a total construction site for the whole of the period of
time if the works commence?
(Mr Uddin) I think the community do understand
that invariably part of the construction work will take place
in Spitalfields but also there will be other activities elsewhere
in London. I think people are generally talking about this digging,
this boring and how this will affect the community, in terms of
health, environment, education and the economic impact. There
are a few thousand people every day visiting the area, we will
lose all this. All the time the ramifications of this are on peoples'
minds. I think people do understand. This is going to happen but
I think this digging is something that is alarming people that
that this will destroy their livelihood, destroy their life and
they think not just their lives but their children's lives. For
children who attend school, the argument is will there be disruption
to their studies and will they be able to concentrate. These are
issues to take into account.
11046. Chairman: It is the disruption
generally.
(Mr Uddin) Yes.
11047. Chairman: You mentioned two or
three times and we had evidence about it, the health facts, obviously
your community is feeling very strongly that this will have a
serious health effect on members of the community.
(Mr Uddin) Yes, if you look there are particular
illnesses associated with particles, I am sure you have heard
of TB and asthma and other issues and particles from construction
work, not just this part of the project but also other projects
that we have mentioned in our presentation, one of which is something
happening behind Aldgate East, it is a huge project and another
project. I think if these are taking place simultaneously that
will be too great and as a result we could have many other illnesses,
particularly asthma, TB and dust related illnesses. It is part
of medical science so I am sure someone else must have documented
these issues and these problems I think they have this fear too.
It is this fear you have to take into account that people feel,
"Gosh, I have been living here for so many years, we have
invested money, the Government has invested money here".
So many people have these concerns about illness.
11048. Kelvin Hopkins: Briefly about
the language problems. I represent a large number of Bangladeshis
myself and they are all from Sylhet and they speak Sylheti. The
point that was made last night was that the literature has been
produced in standard Bengali and we wondered whether that was
a difficulty for you or was it not a problem.
(Mr Uddin) The people who were not brought
up in this country or have lived here since their 20s and 30s,
of course they do not need a translation.
11049. Kelvin Hopkins: They speak English.
(Mr Uddin) Of course. Bengali is okay but when
you arrange consultation meetings it would be really useful to
have someone who can speak the different languages. But if you
are writing literature, it should be in Bengali because I think
writing in English will not make any sense to people. So, I think
in retrospect I would welcome the help. Literature should be in
standard Bengali but I think at the meetings it would be helpful
to have someone there to speak in different languages.
11050. Mr Mould: Can I make one point
just for the benefit of members who were not here yesterday, Mr
Elvin made a detailed presentation on the consultative process
that we did carry out and amongst points that were made was that
material was produced not only in standard Bengali but also in
Sylheti. There was also a Sylheti leaflet available at the centre,
that is all on the transcript so you will be able to see that.
11051. Chairman: It is Mr Mould, but
the reason I originally asked the question is because irrespective
of how clever we all are of producing leaflets—and that
goes for us, we do it for a living—sometimes things do not
go to the right places and therefore consultation does not work
and we are all of a mind that it could have been done better generally
in all aspects of consultation in this exercise and as I say you
have given us the guarantee to improve it in the future. Why we
are asking was we wanted a first hand view on whether or not that
occurred in the community.
11052. Mr Mould: I understand the Committee's
position. Mr Elvin is obviously going to say a little more about
this in closing. I was anxious simply that particular point of
fact was on the transcript.
11053. Mr Binley: Just to say in answer
to Mr Mould, I would like to see you are testing this work because
getting the right language through to the right person and ensuring
the message gets across is different to printing a leaflet.
11054. Mr Mould: Mr Binley, that point
is by no means lost on us and Mr Elvin—
11055. Mr Binley: I see some glee on
Mr Elvin's face so I assume he has got an answer for us.
11056. Mr Mould: When it is convenient
for the Committee, he will be presenting some information in relation
to that.
11057. Mr Seed: Just to reinforce that
view, we have a local knowledge of the target audience and it
is our experience that a multi-mechanism is adopted for communication,
including open days, leaflets and drop-in centres. The consultation
processes are not just done by one technique.
11058. Chairman: Thank you. Have you
concluded?
11059. Mr Seed: Yes. I would like to
thank the Committee for its time and basically we look forward
to responding to Crossrail's invitation to be part of that process.
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