Examination of Witnesses (Questions 17740
- 17749)
17740. Chairman: Mr Chambers, you have
the last word.
17741. Mr Chambers: It sounds good but
given that I have written to them and asked them to do just that,
or at least possibly not in the exact phraseology but I was asking
for a valuation based on the estate agent and then wrote a letter
saying that that is what I think and that is what the monetary
value should be, to me that is the beginning of that process of
doing exactly that. The response was that the nominal value would
be £50 and they did not think there was any injurious affection.
So there is a disconnection between what he is saying—
17742. Chairman: What I am going to ask,
Mr Chambers, is that a copy of the relevant passages is forwarded
to you by the Promoter. Also, we will forward to you a copy of
today's minutes and contained within the minutes will be what
Mr Mould has actually put on record.
17743. Mr Mould: Mr Smith has been sitting
here patiently to deal with the Petitions that are now going to
be heard at another date, but he has just said that he will happily
spend 10 minutes with Mr Chambers.
17744. Chairman: That is a further offer
on top of the two things we have said we will do anyway. Is that
satisfactory?
17745. Mr Chambers: I think so.
17746. Chairman: On the matter of all
these cases, we will review them all individually but the worries
and concerns which you raised in the course of your address, I
think, much of it has been addressed by Mr Mould. If you have
further worries or concerns please take the opportunity—
17747. Mr Chambers: On a general note
for everybody else in this situation, it seems a bit as if the
aim of the game is basically to pay nothing if they can get away
with paying nothing and not being a little bit more proactive
in trying to work out what a reasonable value would be and going
to people and just sorting it out.
17748. Chairman: I think it is a valid
view which you are putting forward, but the Committee has heard
contrary to that. There is an established system on compensation.
There is also a whole variety of different cases which have been
made to us under land compensation—very different from your
own—and they range from the commercial to individual homeowners.
It is not all the same. It is very much we have proof and they
are attempting to follow the guidelines, but there are lots of
different instances and cases, and a lot of people have lots of
different views about what has been occurring. Certainly you need
to worry about your Petition today rather than everybody else's.
17749. That concludes today. Can I just inform
everybody that if a Petitioner wishes to be with us tomorrow we
will leave New Palace Yard by bus at 10.00 am tomorrow. We will
visit Woolwich and the site at Woolwich, and we will then return
and restart these proceedings at 2.30 tomorrow afternoon.
| 
