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UNCORRECTED TRANSCRIPT OF ORAL EVIDENCE To be published as HC 235-xvii

HOUSE OF COMMONS

MINUTES OF EVIDENCE

taken before the

COMMITTEE

on the

CROSSRAIL BILL

DAY EIGHTY

Thursday 22 March 2007

Before:

Mr Alan Meale, in the Chair

Sir Peter Soulsby

Mr Philip Hollobone

 

Ordered: Counsel and Parties be called in:

21157. CHAIRMAN: As everybody is aware the Committee asked the Government last summer to amend the Bill to include a station at Woolwich which Crossrail turned down. The Committee then made a special report to the House highlighting the importance of this issue and Mr Elvin I understand you have some information for us this morning.

21158. MR ELVIN: Yes, sir. The Secretary of State a few minutes ago made a statement before the House and I will read the statement to the Committee.

21159. "The House will recall the extensive discussion in the Crossrail instruction debate on 31 October about a station at Woolwich, adding £186 million to the cost of the scheme. This could simply not be afforded given the scale of the overall funding challenge. I said then, however, that I was willing to give Cross London Rail Links Ltd, the Crossrail company, the time needed to explore with others, including the London Borough of Greenwich, whether there was a way of significantly reducing that cost.

21160. I am pleased today to inform the House of important developments that point a way forward.

21161. The key to this has been Greenwich Council's recent proposal for a major revision to its spatial plan to allow a significantly higher density of development at Woolwich. This, in turn, has prompted Berkeley Homes to offer a means of enabling a station to be built at Woolwich but, crucially, without adding to the current cost of Crossrail.

21162. In the light of this, agreement has been reached in principle with Berkeley Homes under which they will build the basic box structure of a station at Woolwich and then construct their own development overhead. This will all be done at their own risk using their own money to the specification laid down by CLRL with a payment back to Berkeley Homes of the savings CLRL will make through avoiding other works at Woolwich when it constructs the line there.

21163. In due course, Berkeley Homes would then arrange for the completion of the station box to full operational status. Both they and Greenwich Council recognise that the completion of the station would be conditional on receiving sufficient funding contributions from those developers and businesses that stand to benefit from a Crossrail station at Woolwich. The contributions would be in addition to any London-wide Crossrail funding arrangements that may be agreed and no additional public sector debt capacity would be made available. Fit-out of the station could take place only once sufficient private sector contributions had been received.

21164. More work needs to be done to flesh out this deal but the House can now have sufficient confidence that Berkeley and Greenwich Council have the commitment and the right incentives to do that. This is a very significant change from the position last October as there is now a clear way forward that can deliver a station at Woolwich without adding to the costs which Crossrail has already identified.

21165. On this basis I am now able to bring forward an amendment to the Bill to provide powers for the station. In due course, the House will be invited to agree a further instruction to the Committee in respect of Woolwich". That concludes the Secretary of State's statement.

21166. CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much, Mr Elvin. Clearly, it is good news. For the record, I would like to thank the Secretary of State for considering the special report of Woolwich and for finding the way forward. He is clearly a man of great vision. We look forward to seeing the amendments in more detail. The Committee will reconvene on these matters later in the year to ensure that in the meantime all of those who are affected by the new amendments have the opportunity to come to the Committee and set out their concerns. We want to make certain that a new station at Woolwich will be of benefit to the local community so I would like to stress that all those who wish to petition against the new amendments will have their chance to do so. The Committee will now stand adjourned until Wednesday 28 March at 10am.