Examination of Witnesses (Questions 12700
- 12719)
12700. Lady Bright: Thank you very much.
I just did feel those things needed to be tackled first while
everybody had it fresh in their minds. Is it possible to put up
that picture of the site?[101]
It is actually quite green, not that it looks it there. You can
see exactly where we are along the railway but we are probably
the most exposed site in the whole Crossrail project, we think.
12701. The other residents' associations are
supporting us because the noise comes off The Westway and off
the various railways and through into everybody's gardens and
back green bits and really it is not just us, though we obviously
have locus standi, it is really rather a large population
and a very mixed one at that, this whole huge Brunel Estate who
are, we feel, not able to have our legal right to peaceful enjoyment
of our property. We do feel it is already being infringed by the
noise levels from the overhead road and various railways and we
do feel that if Crossrail comes along and tells us, as it appears
to be telling us, that it can run 48 trains an hour on top of
what we have already got and we will not notice it, is not very
plausible where the noise levels are as high as they are there.
Remember in the small hours it goes up to 104 at peak. I am not
claiming at all that it is the norm, but you get these peaks with
trains that come along during the day.
12702. We rather look to the Committee to find
some way of redressing the balance between these two cohabiting
species that I was telling you about, humans and trains. If we
were bats or crested newts we would have a lot more protection,
I can assure you of that.
12703. We also believe that this project ought
to be taking account of the European Union Environmental Noise
Directive of 2002. It will very soon begin to bite and the UK
is very much behind on it. Everybody else is a bit ahead and we
are going to get into trouble if we do not catch up. The one bit
that I know has been completed is the noise level map, which Mr
Taylor was involved in doing, and the result, you probably will
not surprised to hear, shows that we are pretty noisy. I can put
it on the projector if anybody wants to see that.[102]
An interesting thing about this noise map—
12704. Sir Peter Soulsby: For the record,
the picture we just had is A142 and this will be A143.
12705. Lady Bright: This map has been
produced, as similar maps have been produced all over the European
Union, to show noise hotspots. The Directive is particularly targeted
at preventing and reducing environmental noise in larger conurbations
and adjacent to major railways, roads and airports. Certainly
all our European neighbours expect them to include mitigation
of railway noise. This map shows as you can see, along that corridor,
the A40 Great Western mainline corridor, it is pretty much as
noisy as it can get, the red and pink. The orange and the brown
is normal inner city noise really but it is that bit that is high.
The interesting thing about this is that apparently it only measures
road noise. It has not even got the railway noise superimposed
upon it. Mr Taylor might be able to explain how that was done.
I cannot imagine how you could just get The Westway noise and
not get the railway noise. We are talking about an area that badly
needs tackling.
12706. Just also to put some context on the
residents' complaints, we cannot blame Crossrail for everything
that is there already, that is not the point. We are simply saying
that the Crossrail project should have been conceived in the same
spirit, say, as the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation's Westrail
project in Hong Kong which was also going through inner city areas
where everybody is living cheek by jowl, very similar, only they
said at the outset, "We want to make this the quietest railway
in the world," and they found ways of doing it because that
was what they set out to do. We believe in the Crossrail project
the noise is an add-on, and just about meets the lowest standards
that we can because noise costs and our main priority is to do
this project without costing too much money.
12707. I have one example just to show how powerless
residents are in this situation. I could have brought all the
piles of letters which have been written to the chairmen, PR directors
and environmental directors, or whatever they all called themselves
at the time of Network Rail, Railtrack, British Rail, the guardians
of our national rail structure. 1998 and 2000 letters to the two
chairmen at that time, got lovely responses "Oh, yes, we
want to be good neighbours" and then absolutely nothing in
response to the particular points raised. One neighbour, Adrian
Cole, who is an experienced builder, had to wait six years almost
before a misaligned rail was put back into alignment. That may
not sound like much but it meant that this builder who had put
the highest specification acoustic glass into his house, which
is one of the houses that is close to the railway line, it was
completely vitiated by the effect of this rail which in normal
maintenance should have been mended. He wrote to them every year
because every year they said "We have other priorities: safety,
congestion, et cetera, but we will do it next year" and then
it did not happen so he had to write again and it did not happen
and he had to write again. Meanwhile every time a train went past—and
there are an awful lot of trains going past on the Great Western
Railway Main Line—the house shook. It is an awful lot of
shaking of a house when you think about it.
12708. I would like to just point out that we
are not on any old London clay but pure London clay, nothing else.
These were clay pits where Westbourne Park Villas lie. They dug
them out and used the clay to build the bricks to make the houses.
12709. Sir Peter Soulsby: Lady Bright,
I do not want to cut you short entirely but I think perhaps if
we just stick to the particulars of your concerns about Crossrail
it might be helpful.
12710. Lady Bright: Sorry. I beg your
pardon, you are quite right. The clay pits point is important
because the clay does carry the noise and vibration further. It
does accentuate the effects of the freight trains going by and
that vibration has implications, obviously, for settlement but
this is not the place to deal with the settlement issues.
12711. We would like to close here on the noise
point because we realise we can reserve our position on some of
the others for later. Can we say, please, where the Committee
is able to do so can it try to resolve some of these conflicts
between imperatives for the different species, the trains and
human beings. Thank you.
12712. Sir Peter Soulsby: Thank you very
much indeed, Ms Leiven.
12713. Ms Lieven: Thank you very much,
Sir. I think the best thing is if I call very briefly Mr Walters
to deal with one or two of the engineering points, in particular
turn-back facility and then Mr Taylor will call Mr Taylor on noise
because I will get the figures wrong. I think that is probably
the best way to deal with it.
12714. Sir Peter Soulsby: That is fine.
12715. Ms Lieven: If I can ask Mr Walters
to go forward. While he is doing so can I just explain one point,
Sir. Lady Bright referred to EWS going to North Pole next year.
Now that is a surprise to us because we are in negotiations with
EWS about a number of sites and I can assure the Committee there
is no agreement at this stage they will go to North Pole Road.
12716. Lady Bright: It was mentioned
in the ministerial statement.
12717. Ms Lieven: There are discussions
going on but at this stage I can absolutely assure the Committee
there is no certainty on that move. EWS are coming next week or
the week after so if there are any concerns we can pick it up
with them.
12718. Sir Peter Soulsby: We will have
an opportunity then to explore that issue. Can I just say, Lady
Bright, that after Ms Leiven has finished questioning Mr Walters
you will have an opportunity to question him as well.
12719. Lady Bright: Is it possible to
call a witness myself?
101 Committee Ref: A142, Aerial view looking north
across the Great Western Main Line and the Westway (SCN-20060627-011). Back
102
Committee Ref: A143, Defra London Noise Map of Westbourne Park
Villas (SCN-20060627-012). Back
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