Examination of Witnesses (Questions 11440
- 11459)
11440. From my own experience, I have had problems
with the council to enforce planning conditions and noise nuisance
for over five years. The problem continues even though the local
government ombudsman has found in our favour. We have absolutely
no confidence in our council when it comes to things like enforcement
on these matters. What I suppose I am saying is residents need
clear evaluation and control of the noise and vibration from the
site which is something I am really asking for.
11441. I am also concerned that my building
with deep basements and a brittle cast iron frame will act as
a very good transmitter of ground borne noise and vibration. I
have talked to Crossrail's sound expert in the break and he is
coming to Spitalfields so I am hoping he will come and I will
be able to talk to him when he comes to Spitalfields. We can talk
about that further.
11442. I wanted to talk about my own experience
in terms of all these dBs and values that you get with sound.
All sound is not equal and a sound meter measures them in that
way. It measures them equally. Vibration is also even more of
an unquantifiable nuisance. I know that low frequency vibrations
can cause people to feel ill.
11443. Just as an example, we know the sound
of a dripping tap at night is not a loud event but it can stop
you sleeping, there is an irritation factor. It is the same with
a barely audible dull thump of bass from neighbours, if someone
is having a party. It might not be X number of dB but it can cause
distress and anxiety and keep you awake. To have a noisy neighbour
move in for four years and however many months is not something
we want. We can see that coming towards us, that Crossrail will
be a bad neighbour.
11444. For me noise does impact on my health.
I am particularly concerned about night time noise affecting my
health and wellbeing. I have always found it quite difficult to
sleep, I am quite a light sleeper. I was shocked to read the evidence
given to the CTRL planning appeal from the then director of public
health for Camden Primary Care Trust, Dr Fiona Adshead. In her
report in section 7—you were introduced to that when Jill
Cove of SCA gave evidence—Dr Adshead mentions the primary
effects of sleep disturbance. She states that the primary physiological
effects can also be induced by noise during sleep, noise events
that happen while you are asleep. That includes increased blood
pressure, increased heart rate, vasoconstriction, changes in respiration
and cardiac arrhythmias, and that is irregular heart beat. This
last point is a major concern for me.
11445. Mr Liddell-Grainger: Can I ask
you, Mr Carpenter, what you actually want
11446. Mr Carpenter: I have this condition—
11447. Mr Liddell-Grainger: You have
got a medical condition.
11448. Mr Carpenter: Yes. Sorry I took
a long time but I wanted to quote her.
11449. Mr Liddell-Grainger: It is fascinating
what you are saying but I am just trying to get to the bottom
of what you are saying. You have a medical condition.
11450. Mr Carpenter: I suffer from cardiac
arrhythmia which was diagnosed a few years ago. I had not known
about this connection with noise until I started looking into
it for the petition. It occurs more when I am tired or stressed
which is common with this condition. I am concerned that the works
at Hanbury Street shaft will affect not only my health during
the works for these four years ten months but also may lead to
a permanently decreased quality of life for myself due to my condition
deteriorating over the years of the shaft works.
11451. Because of this, and to avoid any uncertainty,
what I would like is an undertaking to be included in the noise
and vibration mitigation scheme and to be provided with ground
floor secondary glazing, additional ventilation and blinds. I
also have an external door in my bedroom, facing east, facing
towards the site, for which the scheme offers noise insulation
which I would also like as part of that. I would like to talk
to the Promoter about the construction process because I would
like to be offered temporary rehousing for the very noisiest part
of the construction process if that turns out with the new scheme
to be very noisy.
11452. Mr Liddell-Grainger: You need
to have that discussion with the Promoter. We hear what you say.
11453. Mr Carpenter: Right. They have
already refused me in that way and I was wondering if they would
give me an undertaking or the Promoter would respond to that now.
That is really to conclude on that. I would like the Committee
to consider each of my points: the noise and vibration mitigation
due to my health; the stage 3 impact settlement, which you have
discussed and that has been agreed; the explanation of my position
as a long leaseholder with a deed of settlement and legal help
with that and also in the wider scheme of things a proper consideration
of alternative route alignments, alternative to the shafts. On
my final point, with CTRL they looked at lots and lots of different
areas for different sections. I believe Michael Schabas has made
that point already. The CTRL committee, when it was at that stage,
made the Promoter reduce the environmental harm and impact of
the health hazard by insisting the Promoter follow rail lines
and lines which did not impact on built-up residential areas.
Obviously they did that and we have still seen the impact in King's
Cross from residents' point of view. I really have not seen anything
from Crossrail which really looks at it from a residents' centred
point of view. That is why I am here and I am very anxious, and
all the residents are very concerned, everybody is concerned,
because it is only from a development point of view. That is really
all I can say.
11454. Mr Liddell-Grainger: Thank you
very much, Mr Carpenter. Mr Elvin would you like to respond?
11455. Mr Elvin: Sir, I am just going
to deal with the specific points that have been raised. In terms
of the exhibition, can I just remind the Committee the round one
consultation which Mr Boyd Carpenter attended specifically refers
to the Pedley Street tunnel. If you look at the last paragraph
on the information sheet you will see "during tunnel construction
spoil removed via an underground connection to temporary sidings
to be located in Pedley Street".[47]
You will see the blue line which shows the beginning of that,
it does not show the terminus, that is absolutely correct but
nonetheless there is an indication.
11456. Secondly, so far as alternative alignments
are concerned, yes, alternative alignments were not shown as part
of the consultation round one because they were not part of the
project being consulted upon. That does not stop people giving
consultation responses on alternative alignments but the position
with alternative alignments, as Mr Berryman explained, is a considerable
amount of work went into it and he gave the reasons which relate
to engineering, settlement and related matters which explains
why the southern alignment was rejected. There is no ulterior
motive, we are not picking the Hanbury Street alignment just to
make everyone's life difficult, it was picked because, as far
as CLRL and its experts are concerned, it is the best route. The
southern alignment I will deal with in my detail when I close
the Spitalfields objections generally.
11457. So far as consultation is concerned,
Mr Boyd Carpenter is wrong, we did use the TfL toolkit, it is
referred to in the Spitalfields report which Mr Simon Dean spoke
to on Day 40.
11458. So far as the Hanbury Street site being
selected for Pedley Street, Mr Berryman tells me—and I pass
this on to the Committee later if necessary—Hanbury Street
was selected before the idea of the Pedley Street conveyor emerged
and Hanbury Street is not just there because of the Pedley Street
conveyor, Hanbury Street is required regardless of the Pedley
Street issue for the reasons that were explained by Mr Berryman
last week.
11459. So far as legal advice is concerned,
I am afraid I cannot offer to pay Mr Boyd Carpenter's legal costs.
The compensation provisions have been explained. There is nothing
to prevent legal advice being taken on the settlement deed if
that is what is wanted but compensation, such as it is provided
in terms of settlement, relates to a need to carry out surveys
post work and during monitoring.
47 Crossrail Ref: P97, Hanbury Street Shaft-Crossrail
Proposals (SCN-20060620-006). Back
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