Examination of Witnesses (Questions 12800
- 12815)
12800. The replacement plant will be both quieter,
less dusty and if there are any safety issues on the existing
plant, which I do not in any sense accept but which I am not in
a position to comment on in any detail, then the new plant by
the very fact it is new will be safer. So, Sir, the position for
replacing the plant is overwhelming.
12801. As far as Old Oak Common is concerned,
and therefore not having the turn-back facility, first of all,
as Mr Walters explained, it involves crossing the relief lines
to get there, which would be massively expensive and difficult
to construct, and also involves taking trains further away to
turn them around which is much less efficient.
12802. Can I put in a plea now on the record,
it is completely the wrong approach for the Committee to think,
"Oh well, Crossrail saved £80 million-odd by relocating
the depot, therefore we have it to chuck at some other problem."
As we emphasised very strongly on the Woolwich issue, the Secretary
of State is very keen to push down the costs of what is already
a very, very expensive project. So I do urge the Committee not
to take the view that there is £80 million in some slush
fund to be thrown around.
12803. So far as impact on the Academy is concerned,
the impact on the Academy from putting back the batching plant
is really very, very slight. In terms of dust and noise the Academy
is on the other side of the West Way so the impact is likely to
be minimal. So far as the land-take is concerned, we simply are
not removing any sports facility from the Academy. If we were,
doubtless Westminster and Mr King would have made that extremely
clear. So that is simply not correct.
12804. As far as noise is concerned, and you
have just heard the evidence, this is an extremely noisy environment,
as Mr Taylor took you through, and has been—I am glad Mr
Hopkins made the point because I was going to make it as well—a
very noisy environment for well over 150 years. Every resident
there knows this is a noisy environment when they come there.
The Crossrail trains will make no perceptible increase in noise
at these locations, just above or below 1 dB. The very noisy environment
is coming from the fast trains and, in terms of the background,
probably even the West Way, not from Crossrail trains.
12805. So far as the acoustic barrier is concerned,
we have never suggested it would be appropriate to put up an acoustic
barrier for the operational phase, the noise just does not justify
it. If one was going to try and put up a noise barrier to deal
with the entirety of the noise problem at that location, ie that
from fast trains which is really the problem, it would have to
be enormously high and completely unrealistic. So it is both not
necessary for Crossrail and completely unacceptable.
12806. So far as the batching plant is concerned,
the evidence is entirely clear, that the noise coming from the
operation of the batching plant itself will be less from the new
batching plant because it will be a newly constructed facility
with increased hoarding and therefore more containment of the
noise.
12807. It is brief, Sir, but I hope that summarises
the main points.
12808. Sir Peter Soulsby: Thank you,
Ms Lieven.
12809. Lady Bright: The old plant, which
we are going to get stuck with, we are genuinely worried about
being stuck with for years. It is not appropriate. We think the
local authority would be also very glad if you could make some
observation on that and get them out of a hole.
12810. You would not be losing railhead capacity
at all in aggregate batching if you moved the concrete plant down
to Old Oak Common where it would be rail-served. I think they
have got that one slightly wrong.
12811. Mr King did make it clear in Westminster's
petition against the additional provisions that there was loss
of playing fields. Maybe I have that wrong but I was under the
impression that was there.
12812. The fact you move into a nuisance does
not mean it is not a nuisance and you lose all your rights against
it if it gets worse.
12813. The final point is that I do not want
us to get mesmerised by the noise emanating from a modern highly
conditioned concrete plate which I am almost certain will never
be built and ignoring the freight trains which, as Ms Lieven said
earlier, can go as loud as they like, as late as they like and
anywhere they like without let or hindrance.
12814. Thank you very much.
12815. Sir Peter Soulsby: Thank you very
much indeed. That does bring the Committee's consideration of
that petition to a conclusion.
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