Examination of Witnesses (Questions 21020
- 21039)
21020. Chairman: We will return now to
the next petition, which is a return to the petition of Woodseer
and Hanbury Residents Association. Mr Whale, can I just say at
the beginning I realise that you were not aware that gowns and
wigs were worn. I just put it on the record that it is for you
to check that. We are not going to stop you from proceeding today
but you are a lawyer and it is one of the oldest professions in
the world, so to speak, and I think you appreciate that your colleagues
in your industry are having to wear these gowns you have omitted
to do that on this occasion and I think you should feel a little
bit guilty about that fact.
21021. Mr Whale: I do, and I apologise.
No discourtesy is meant. I am afraid it was neither checked nor
communicated to me. I am about as formal as I could be without
gowns.
21022. Chairman: I think it is pretty
clear that you are still a lawyer without the gown.
21023. Mr Whale: Indeed, I am.
21024. Chairman: Anyway, that point has
been made. Before we proceed I would like Mr Elvin to remind the
Committee.
21025. Mr Elvin: Sir, you will recall
that this petition last came before the Committee on Day 68 on
31 January when the Committee adjourned the matter just after
it had begun on the basis that certain matters were raised in
the evidence of Mr Schabas. You asked for the matter to be dealt
with by correspondence. That, in fact, occurred. Letters were
received on behalf of the Woodseer and Hanbury Residents Association
with material from Mr Schabas, Mr Carpenter and some other material.
That was followed shortly by a letter from the Spitalfields Small
Business Association. I wrote to you on behalf of the Promoter
on 1 March comprehensively responding to the matters raised in
both sets of correspondence.
21026. Sir, so far as this evening is concerned
you will have it on the record, because I raised this last time
and, indeed, so far as the letter is concerned of 1 March, the
major concern that is being raised with the Committee by this
Residents Association is not an AP3 matter, which is the question
of the alternative tunnel alignments. That is a matter which was
ventilated on the main Bill petitions last summer. It is a matter
which does not arise, as I informed the Committee last time, as
a result of AP3. I have set out a number of matters which are
pertinent to that in the letter which, unless you want me to read
them into the record, I will not, they are set out in some detail
as to where, in fact, alignments can be seen to have been considered.
21027. That being so, you wrote to the Association
yourself making it clear that although the Association could come
back on AP3 matters they did not have locus to raise other matters
not relevant to AP3. I am sure your clerk will have advised you
on the locus provisions and the provisions in Erskine May.
The interest in the petition has got to arise in relation to the
matter which is being petitioned, which is AP3. Thank you, sir.
21028. Chairman: Thank you. Mr Whale?
21029. Mr Whale: Sir, matters seem to
have taken another curious turn. Those behind me I could hear
express some surprise at the reference to my learned friend's
1 March letter which I have never seen and I am told that they
have never seen. Quite how that has come about I know not but
it is the first that they and I have ever heard of it. I do not
know if Mr Elvin can help the Committee and myself on how it was
communicated or by what method.
21030. Chairman: It is a surprise to
me, Mr Whale, because it was my understanding that it was copied
to the Petitioner.
21031. Mr Elvin: Sir, the position as
I understand it from Mr Walker is it is a letter to you and we
left it to the Committee to decide whether or not the Committee
thought it appropriate to copy it. I can certainly let Mr Whale
have a copy.
21032. Chairman: Mr Whale, you have got
a copy now. Do you want a short adjournment to read it?
21033. Mr Whale: I would be very grateful
for that, sir.
21034. Chairman: We will adjourn for
ten or 15 minutes.
After a short break
21035. Chairman: Mr Whale, can I first
of all apologise. It is not normal that such things as this happen;
we try for it not to happen at all, and all I can do is apologise
in that respect.
21036. Mr Whale: I am very grateful for
that. It does confirm that we have not had sight of this letter
before. Obviously I have had a brief chance to look at it and
to take some instructions. With your leave, I have got some observations
on it and then what I would regard as more substantive reasons
as to why you ought to hear the Association this evening. Are
you content for me to proceed in that fashion?
21037. Chairman: I would just like to
point out to you what we have already communicated to you, which
is about AP3 and the southern alignment and all the debate which
we have had about that. You will appreciate that we, as a Committee,
have been assigned a job by Parliament and within that they have
already decided on the alignment and where stations should be.
21038. Mr Whale: If you are referring
to your own recent letter to the Association, I have that well
in mind, indeed I think it is in the bundle that we have provided
for you. It is my job, as it were, to try to persuade you that
the evidence that we would like to adduce tonight is referable
to AP3, and that is what I would like to do.
21039. Chairman: You do it for a living,
you have got to try and put it in that context.
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