Examination of Witnesses (Questions 18240
- 18259)
18240. So there would be a health and safety
issue?
(Mr Berryman): Health and
safety, and access problems.
18241. Because you would be doing joint access?
(Mr Berryman): Yes.
18242. Mr Liddell-Grainger: Ms Lieven?
18243. Ms Lieven: On this topic, Mr Berryman,
and this question may be impossible to answer, if we could not
have this site and you had to do those operations from the main
part of Acton Yard, what are the likely consequences on the work
programme, the freight operations, and the train operations generally?
Are there any, or would it have to be such a fundamental re-think
you cannot answer the question?
(Mr Berryman): I could not
answer that off the top of my head; I would have to give it some
thought. It would probably mean the freight yard having to close
for a period of time but I would not like to really say definitely
if that is the case.
18244. Can we move on, then, to the alternative
provision at Churchill Gardens? First, can you explain the nature
of the land there? Size and so on? Access?[25]
(Mr Berryman): I spent, as I
said a few moments ago, many years traipsing around all over the
world and it is what we would have called in the tropics "semi
mature jungle". It needs a lot of cleaning out and a lot
of conditioning before it can be used as a growing area, and we
recognise that is needed. It is scrubland and basically immature
trees. What we would be proposing to do is to condition the soil
beforehand by grubbing up and getting rid of all the existing
vegetation, and then conditioning it, and I am told that the best
material to do this is horse manure and wood chip which you plough
into the soil and so on. Then we would be providing water supplies,
as said earlier, marking out the allotments, fencing the site
off—all that sort of thing, which you would expect to happen.
18245. Mr Binley: Through you, Chairman,
so you have not had a real assessment of the real quality of the
alternative site, nor do you know what is in or under that site?
(Mr Berryman): We know the
history of the site and we have spoken to the local borough about
what is in and under the site. The growth in there is pretty healthy
at the moment, and the borough tell us it was previously used
as allotments for growing many years ago, and certainly the strength
and health of all the wild vegetation there indicates, in their
view, that there is fundamentally wrong with the site. The London
Borough of Ealing's adviser on allotments and so on has advised
us on this point.
18246. Ms Lieven: Have we been in discussions
with the London Borough of Ealing's allotments officer or manager?
(Mr Berryman): I will find
you his official title. He is, in fact, the Allotments Manager,
Stephen Cole, the Allotments Manager, Parks and Countryside Service.
18247. And have we been discussing with him
how to condition the soil?
(Mr Berryman): We have indeed,
and he has made these suggestions I have spoken about and also
advised us on timing where we would allow people to make their
planting at a certain time of the year without making the move.
In other words they have two allotments going at the same time
as they overlap the different crops.
18248. And so far as the condition of the soil,
the condition of the allotments is concerned, have we given any
unequivocal commitments on that?
(Mr Berryman): You mean
on the temporary allotments?
18249. Yes?
(Mr Berryman): We certainly
have. We have given commitments to the borough to do the various
things which are needed to condition the soil, and I think we
have given an undertaking to the allotment holders. If not, we
can do so.
18250. And so far as the borough are concerned,
are they content that this is an acceptable site for temporary
allotments? Are they concerned about contamination of land or
dust flying off Acton Yard, those kind of issues?
(Mr Berryman): No, they
are not, or certainly they have not indicated to us they are.
I cannot speak for them really but they have never said anything
to us about that.
18251. And we have been in extensive discussions?
(Mr Berryman): Yes.
18252. Just while we are on the condition of
the place, have you got any views on this issue that it is not
suitable for allotments because there is dust flying off Acton
Yard?
(Mr Berryman): Well, Acton
Yard is a major aggregate handling area. I would imagine there
is a possibility of some dust at some time but I would have thought
the whole area would suffer from that problem, and if you look
at the other allotment, the Great Western allotment, which is
a very large patch of allotments immediately adjacent to the area
we are proposing as a temporary allotment, that seems to work
quite adequately, and the allotments there are just as well tended
and just as actively used as the Noel Road ones.
18253. And those are existing allotments; those
are not ones we aspire to move?
(Mr Berryman): We are moving
a very small number of them just on the corner.
18254. But there is an existing successful allotment
right next to where we are proposing?
(Mr Berryman): I think the
boundary is there
18255. Now, another point that was raised was
pedestrian access. I think we accept this is not ideal, but can
you explain how it works?
(Mr Berryman): Yes. There
is an existing very heavily overgrown track from the end of Churchill
Gardens to the allotment—this is another place Mrs Berryman
has tried to navigate her way through in the past—and we
would be proposing to clear that out and make a walkway through.
It is about, I suppose, 200m but from the Acton diveunder it is
about 500m.
18256. What about access by car for bringing
heavy things in?
(Mr Berryman): You would
only be able to get as far as the end of Churchill Gardens.
18257. Ms Lieven: I think that is everything,
Mr Berryman. Thank you very much.
18258. Mr Liddell-Grainger: Mr Brewster?
Cross-examined by Mr Brewster
18259. Mr Brewster: The access to Noel
Road allotments is why they are so well used. It is because people
with busy city urban lives can get down there, get digging and
get out again and do not have to traipse down little avenues and
freshly cleared paths, so that is a key part of their function.
Dust is common. I have a newsletter from the residents' association
here which speaks of—
25 Crossrail Ref: P135, Supplementary Environmental
Statement, Acton Main line Station and Yard-Revised Scheme and
Impacts (SCN-20070125-019). Back
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