Examination of Witnesses (Questions 18200
- 18219)
18200. Ms Lieven: Sir, I have not been
here before, to Acton Yard, but I was going to say that perhaps
the Committee may conclude this is not one of the more weighty
Petitions, and I suspect even the Petitioner would accept that.
The issue here is the condition of the soil on the reprovided
allotments.
18201. Where we are is Acton Yard, and the Committee
will remember we are doing work at Acton Yard in order to put
in a provision for the assistance of the freight traffic out of
Acton Yard, a diveunder which allows the freight to get in and
out without interfering with Crossrail and vice versa.[15]
In order to do so we need to take temporarily, but for some considerable
time, land which includes the Noel Road allotments, and we have
made provision in the Bill for the temporary relocation of the
Noel Road allotments so there is no, as I understand it, dispute
with the Petitioners. They are prepared to move—well, we
understand that the significant issue is not so much the fact
that they are going to be temporarily relocated but the quality
of the provision during the period of the relocation and we have,
I would suggest, done everything we can to meet these concerns.
18202. Mr Berryman will give evidence as to
why we need the site, and I do not understand there to be any
evidence to counter that; Mr Berryman can give evidence as to
how this is acceptable provision in terms of vehicular access
for the Petitioners and access by foot, and we have offered to
the Council who, as it were, provide services to the allotment
holders, to condition the soil so that it is in a suitable condition
for allotment use, and we have offered that that be done so that
the land can be handed over in January of the appropriate year
so that the allotment holders can work from January up until the
planting season to ensure they can use the allotments beneficially,
and also that they can hold on to the old allotment land until
April in the same year so they can harvest whatever it might be
through the winter, and are not disadvantaged in that way. We
have also offered to provide water and fencing at the new site.
So our position is that we have really done everything that could
reasonably be required of us at that site.
18203. Sir, I do not think there is much more
I can say at this stage. I have Mr Berryman here not only to speak
on why we need the site but also the condition of the soil when
it is handed over.
18204. Mr Liddell-Grainger: Thank you.
Mr Brewster?
18205. Mr Brewster: Thank you. I am a
member of the Great Western Allotment Association Committee, an
active allotmenteer, and also a local resident.
18206. This Crossrail Bill proposes to use the
area of land marked as parcels 156 and 157 on plan 126, which
is not as detailed as the one that has been brought up here but
I will return to that.[16]
18207. It is to be used as a building materials
storage area and for construction site workers accommodation.
There are some errors on the map but I will return to that. This
little piece of West Acton is currently home to a thriving set
of allotments. We have about 20 tenants and it is full, it is
permanently used, which also goes against something that Crossrail
stated on one of their previous maps.
18208. Local people from a wide variety of backgrounds
and ethnicities work side-by-side, growing all sorts of produce
from potatoes to honey; there are beehives and all sorts of things.
The area has been used as growing land since at least the turn
of the century, market gardens and allotments since the war.
18209. Our objection to the proposed destruction
of this site remains despite the Additional Provisions which state
the Promoters only need the southern half of this site. So the
map you are looking at now is inaccurate, as were quite a few
things said by Ms Lieven, I am afraid, in her introductory opening
passage, because the most recent Crossrail maps show only the
southern end of that site to be used. If Mr Fry would put up my
aerial view supplied to me by Crossrail, the allotment site is
the green triangle, and the latest map shows a cut-off boundary
there, so that is halving the amount of land allotted compared
to the previous one that was up. So there are some inconsistencies
there which perhaps need to be sorted out. Mr Fry, if you could
put up the photographs that I brought in of the allotment site
themselves, I wanted to show how well used the site is.[17]
These photographs are various views of the allotments that I took
last year when I knew that the site was under threat because I
wanted to show how well used it was. No padlocked gates in that
sheet so far as I can see. Also I brought this newspaper cutting
in simply as evidence that there are a lot of people interested
in this piece of land and it was very easy for the local newspaper
to get quite a good crowd to come along and support this little
gem of a green space in the middle of west London, and there is
a lot of local feeling regarding this.[18]
Six years ago some developers tried to build on this piece of
land and local neighbours and I got together and got a petition
with over 100 signatures, and the local council refused them permission
on a variety of grounds, which I will come to. There is some sort
of legal constraint over local growing land which I am not sure
of the legal ins and outs of, but it was turned down six years
ago and we are asking that it be turned down again.
18210. The southern half of this site, which
is the one that most recent Crossrail maps show are to be required,
is the most intensely cultivated area and from Crossrail's own
aerial photograph, if you have extremely good eyesight you can
make out lots of little sheds and plots of land dividing that
section.[19]
If we slip to the legend or key in the top left corner of the
map, it says "Plots 156, 157. Vacant allotments, London Borough
of Ealing", and the photograph is evidence that those allotments
are not vacant. 158 I think says: "Vacant allotments",
and that is not the case either, that is an area of garages, so
there are quite a few errors on there.[20]
18211. The Promoters have spoken to us about
alternative sites for the allotments, and we consider this not
to be a realistic alternative for several reasons, the key one
being access. Access is very difficult to this site, and if we
look at the next page of the aerial view again and slide it slightly
to the right, this is the alternative site which is scrubland
at the moment, woods and trees and what-have-you, and the access
is right over from Churchill Gardens, which is over 500 yards
away.[21]
That is a long way to push a wheelbarrow and people need to be
able to drive quite close to the allotments to unload fertilisers
and compost and tools and what-have-you, and access to that site
is actually quite difficult. There is currently no water supply
on this site, although we have found out recently that the Promoters
have said they will provide water so that becomes less important.
18212. The site is full of trees and brambles
and as such acts as a mini nature reserve. It has not been tilled
or cultivated and has very little top soil, and we do not think
it will become viable as a growing space for many years.
18213. The site is adjacent and slightly to
the north east of the large aggregate works of Acton Yard. Being
a local resident I know all about these because they kick up an
awful lot of dust, and I have quite a lot of evidence here about
residents' complaints about dust levels, and as we live in an
area of Britain where the prevailing wind is generally south westish
then those allotments are directly in the firing line. The land
is quite contaminated and used by Foster Yeomans mainly. I think
it is a point worth making that Foster Yeomans are the prime clients
who use these sidings and they are going to be the people who
need the diveunder to access their sidings while the Crossrail
route is in operation.
18214. Mr Binley: Can I clarify what
the composition of the dust is?
18215. Mr Brewster: I do not think it
is toxic or anything like that, and I am sure there will be controls.
It is the aggregate used under railway tracks, and it is washed
and stored and cleaned and processed there by Foster Yeomans.
While we are on this I wanted to point out the wasted land space
going on adjacent to that siding, and suggest that some of the
uses for Noel Road allotments could equally be put into these
areas of land instead.
18216. We believe the Crossrail project and
the proposed diveunder could be completed without using the Noel
Road allotment site. The general area has large waste spaces which
could be used as alternatives. The plot numbered 154 on the previous
photograph, and it is difficult to see this, is basically the
triangle between the Central Line and the Great Western line.[22]
We feel it would also act as a perfect substitute for using our
little piece of allotments there. This little bit of land is waste;
that little bit is full of allotmenteers, and we are suggesting
Crossrail could use the little bit instead, and also the area
adjacent to the Foster Yeomans sidings which we saw on the previous
image.
18217. There is a large triangle of spare land
to the west of Foster Yeomans area as well. There are about three
alternative sites which we consider to be equal in quantity to
the purple area marked there that would act as replacements.
18218. We consider the alternative site proposed
by Crossrail could be used itself for these purposes, so cut out
the middle man, leave us alone and go and use the area that they
have offered us as a replacement for workers' accommodation and
building materials storage.
18219. Crossrail have told us that they need
access to this diveunder from east and west, but we consider that
considering there is a readily available rail network to hand
which could cope with moving heavy material we are rather puzzled
by that dire need to access from both sides. Our allotment association
supports the general aims of Crossrail and the environmental benefits
it could bring by getting more traffic off roads and on to rails.
However, on a local scale we feel there is an argument to be made
here about babies and bathwater.
15 Crossrail Ref: P136, Acton Yard-Relocation of Great
Western and Noel Road Allotments on a temporary and permanent
basis (EALGLB-10904-001). Back
16
Committee Ref: A203, Aerial view of Acton Yard and surrounding
area (SCN-20070125-006). Back
17
Committee Ref: A203, Views of Noel Road Allotments (SCN-20070125-007
to -009). Back
18
Committee Ref: A203, Bid Starts to Halt Crossrail Land grab,
Ealing Gazette, 17 June 2005 (SCN-20070125-010). Back
19
Committee Ref: A203, Aerial view of Acton Yard and surrounding
area (SCN-20070125-013). Back
20
Committee Ref: A203, Legend of the aerial view of Acton Yard
and surrounding area (SCN-20070125-014). Back
21
Committee Ref: A203, Aerial view of access to temporary and permanent
Road Allotments (SCN-20070125-016). Back
22
Committee Ref: A203, Aerial view of Parcel 154, land owned by
BRB (Residuary) Ltd (SCN-20070125-016). Back
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