Examination of Witnesses (Questions 920
- 939)
920. That is simple maths, 2.3 per cent of 2,000.
You have quoted a figure of 17.3 per cent as the people who responded
to the Census I think in this ward as being those who said they
had some limiting long-term illness; do you remember that?
(Mr West) That is correct, yes
921. That 17.3 per cent tells us nothing about
how many of those people need step-free access, does it?
(Mr West) I suppose you could take that view. The information
is not that comprehensive.
922. And then just briefly on the UEL campus
point, can we put up our bus map exhibit for Maryland, it is 004
please.[65]
We have got Maryland Station there (indicating) and I think the
Committee will see this better straight in front of them, but
you can see marked on that the University of East London campus;
is that right. Have I got the right place, Mr West?
(Mr West) Yes, it was shown on my exhibit as
well but it is in the same place.
923. This is the bus map and straight outside
the door of the UEL campus is the bus stop for route 86 which
goes every six minutes and takes one directly to Stratford Station
and it is a fully accessible bus.
(Mr West) Yes, it is fully accessible.
924. You made the point in evidence-in-chief
that the easiest station for people in UEL to use was Maryland,
but if we can put up very briefly UEL's own web page on public
transport access, what is clear there is that on the UEL's own
information, each of UEL campuses is connected by public transport
to nearby town centres, central London and further afield.[66]
There are two campuses, and we can ignore the first one, so far
as the Stratford campus is concerned, the railway station that
the University itself draws attention to is Stratford and it makes
absolutely no mention of Maryland whatsoever.
(Mr West) I imagine the reason why it makes
reference to Stratford rather than Maryland is because Stratford
is an interchange and that there are more services serving Stratford,
for instance, the Jubilee, the Central and the DLR, so it is encouraging
students to visit the nearest interchange station rather than
the nearest local station.
925. If one just scrolls down the page a little
bit and puts up the little map, and I do apologise, it is not
a good copy, but again we have the campus there and we have this
(indicating) which is Stratford and there is no reference again
on the map whatsoever to Maryland Station, is there?
(Mr West) I think one of the reasons for that, my Lords,
as you have seen from the evidence that has been shown today,
is that Maryland itself as a station is not particularly attractive
at the moment. It is a pretty decrepit station, if I can use that
word. I would say it is not a particularly safe station at present
and in fact all the windows are boarded up and it stinks of urine.
With that in mind, I do not blame the University for suggesting
that Stratford is the most convenient station for the students.
926. Can we move on briefly to Manor Park. You
made the point in respect of both Manor Park and Maryland that,
if people had to take a bus to get to an accessible station, and
it does not really matter whether they are people to the north
of Maryland getting a bus and going to Stratford or whether they
are people to the south of Manor Park and getting a bus along
the Romford Road again probably to Stratford or, if they are going
east, to Ilford, you made the point, "Well, that's going
to be an additional cost". Do you remember that?
(Mr West) I probably did, yes.
927. You said that one of the disadvantages
of having to get a bus is that there will be an additional cost
for people who may be on low incomes. Let's just test that a little
bit. If you are in receipt of a means-tested benefit, you get
free bus travel, do you not?
(Mr West) I am not sure about that. I am afraid I do not
know the answer to that.
928. Well, I will ask Mr Berryman to confirm
that. If you are registered disabled, you get free bus travel,
do you not?
(Mr West) Yes, you do.
929. MS LIEVEN: If you are elderly in
London, and I cannot remember whether it is 60 or 65 now, I think
it is 60, you get free bus travel?
930. LORD SNAPE: I am afraid we are elderly
at 60 here!
931. LORD YOUNG OF NORWOOD GREEN: Some
of us are experts on this!
932. MS LIEVEN: I apologise for my ignorance,
but you get free bus travel, do you not?
(Mr West) You do, but not before nine o'clock in the morning.
933. Also, if you have a Travelcard, I do not
know which zone Manor Park is in, but is it in Zone 2 or Zone
3?
(Mr West) It is in Zone 3.
934. So, if you have got a Travelcard which
covers Zone 3, then you pay no additional cost for going to a
station in Zone 3, do you?
(Mr West) No, that is the case, yes.
935. You made reference to the Newham service
centre in Manor Park. Can you tell us exactly where that is?
(Mr West) If you see the intersection, it is basically the
north-east quadrant of that intersection.
936. So it is on the route of three buses, two
of which go to Stratford every, I think it is, five to eight minutes.
Is that right?
(Mr West) Yes, it is.
937. Then in terms of Stratford, you made a
considerable point of the difficulties of getting from Manor Park
to Forest Gate, and I am quite happy to accept that is a relatively
unlikely thing for people to do, but the majority of the Manor
Park catchment is to the south of the station, is it not, because
we have got a lot of open space to the north?
(Mr West) Well, there certainly is a lot of open space to
the north. I would have to look at the data relating to the actual
area, but it may well be the case that there is more catchment
to the south than to the north, yes.
938. Our figures are that 70 per cent of the
catchment lies to the south. Have you got any reason to dispute
that?
(Mr West) I suppose I have not, no.
939. For all those people, rather than trying
to do a rather convoluted exercise of getting to Forest Gate,
if they want to travel west towards central London, they can get
on to the Romford Road and they have a bus service, two buses
going every five to eight minutes, so it averages out at a bus
about every four minutes on a good day which go straight to Stratford
Station and drop them outside the station. Yes?
(Mr West) Certainly two of those routes
would do that, yes.
65 Crossrail Ref: P8, Maryland Station-Local bus services
providing direct links to Stratford Station (NEWMLB-53_04-004) Back
66
Travel Wise, University of East London, www.uel.ac.uk
(SCN-20080226-015 and -016) Back
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