Examination of Witnesses (Questions 1840
- 1859)
1840. I just wondered looking at a couple of
the photographs there are piles of soil as if somebody has been
trying to use it.
(Mr Graham) It may because some of the key stakeholders in
the Colne Valley Regional Park are farmers because farmers have
a difficult time in this area. Mr Rayner, the farmer here, has
a particularly difficult time. On the urban fringe it is a difficult
activity and many of them are included in the deliberations of
Colne Valley Regional Park. Possibly, access over the bridge for
farming purposes was included for that because it was considered
that it would be good to try and encourage farming in this urban
fringe area. I do not know, but that is only a guess.
1841. Looking at some of the photographs you
see that there are piles of soil which looks as if somebody has
been illegally trying to cross and the farmer is trying to prevent
them.
(Mr Graham) Yes, that is true. I have
spoken to Mr Rayner several times, I know him quite well. That
was put there by him as a further discouragement to stop the gate
being opened with bolt croppers and motorbikes taken through.
1842. CHAIRMAN: Mr Graham, do you think
that the actions and visions for the Colne Valley Regional Park
document will give us a better perspective where this very short
link fits in?
(Mr Graham) If I had been sensible enough to produce a map
showing the Colne Valley Park at this point, I think it would
become clearer.
1843. It is not clear at the moment.
(Mr Graham) I am sorry. The best I can do is to go back to
sketch Map A, if that is possible, please.[31]
You can see that the shaded areas are urban areas. Langley on
the left hand side is the western edge of the Colne Valley Park
at that point. To the west of that is Slough which stretches for
five miles in that direction. The M25 runs right through the middle
of the Colne Valley Park at that point. You can see Footpath 16
to the right of the motorway. Footpaths 15 and 16, however, are
the only two north/south links in the Colne Valley Park at this
point because only another half a mile in the eastern direction
you come to West Drayton, which is the edge of the Greater London
boundary urban area. You have got here a gap of barely two miles
with only two footpaths leading north/south through it. It is
the narrowest corridor in the whole part of the Colne Valley Park.
1844. CHAIRMAN: Where is the river?
(Mr Graham) The River Colne runs just to the east of Footpath
16. In fact, Footpath 16 runs alongside the Colne Brook, which
runs parallel to the Colne at one point.
1845. So there is another footpath on the other
side of the M25?
(Mr Graham) You can only see the beginning and end of it.
Footpath 16, where the red pointer is now, then bulges east, crosses
the railway through a tunnel, I am thankful to say, rather than
a bridge, and comes out in Iver village to the north. It is not
a direct line in the same way that Footpath 15 is but it meanders
a little along the Colne Brook.
1846. So it is another north/south footpath?
(Mr Graham) It is another north/south footpath but these
two are the only two in that region. Sadly, Thorney Lane and Market
Lane are both busy roads. Neither of them is a B road but they
are both filled with industrial traffic from the Bison Works and
the Ridgeway Works and generally because they are overflow roads
from the motorway, sadly, a lot of the time.
1847. LORD YOUNG OF NORWOOD GREEN: I
take your point about the survey that was made by Crossrail. Nevertheless,
it was a survey in the height of the summer. Ideally, you might
have had something different but it was a weekend survey over
two weekends, so you cannot just discount it.
(Mr Graham) I have to accept it, yes.
1848. No more than I would discount your anecdotal
evidence of usage, but it seems to me you cannot ignore that and
say that it was in some way unfair to do it
(Mr Graham) I am not saying it was unfair to do it at all,
no. Can I say that Mr Suggett I know is going to present further
evidence about use.
1849. The first option is to keep the existing
bridge. That is your preferred option?
(Mr Graham) If possible, that is right. We would like to
see it mainly as a footpath, and if it could be preserved as a
heritage footpath because it is historical, fine, but if it were
replaced by an alternative we would not cry any tears at all.
1850. The compromise you suggested involves
linking from Footpath 24 and using pavements on the side roads;
is that right?
(Mr Graham) Yes.
1851. I just want to make sure I have not misinterpreted
it. Then you get to Iver station.
(Mr Graham) That is right.
1852. If you take that bit of green route that
goes round and does not go over the station, you use that footbridge
across Thorney Lane, do you not, which is the one that the council
showed us on the photograph?
(Mr Graham) Yes.
1853. That is a perfectly safe means?
(Mr Graham) It is indeed, yes.
1854. And it is not a very large diversion,
actually, is it?
(Mr Graham) No.
1855. So the only other point I can make—and
I have a great deal of sympathy with the point you make—is
that if we could achieve that all would be for the best in this
best of all possible worlds, almost?
(Mr Graham) Yes, we agree. We take the point that I think
Ms Lieven made, and I hope I am not misquoting her. She said that
Crossrail do not have statutory powers to engage with the British
Rail Board but it is possible to talk to the British Rail Board.
They are a British residual board. It is spare land left over.
It has been in their hands ever since the canal was built, I think.
1856. I was just trying to explore with you
whether you would see that as part of that, the quid pro quo,
that you going over the Thorney Lane footbridge would not be an
unreasonable thing?
(Mr Graham) I think if we were offered
the red best route, not going over the footbridge but going round
by the Thorney Lane Bridge that you talked about, I would have
to talk to my colleagues but I think personally that would be
a reasonably acceptable alternative, yes, absolutely. Can I say
though on that point that when Mrs Collins and I came in by train
from Iver this morning, Iver station is unattended normally and
the bridge is open access to all people, as indeed are the platforms.
To us it is extremely unlikely that British Rail would ever have
a security system of allowing only paying passengers onto the
platforms at that point because it is not a heavily used station.
1857. But it is part of the new Crossrail, is
it not?
(Mr Graham) It is indeed.
1858. CHAIRMAN: Mr Graham, I think that
whatever it is you have been saying about the Buckinghamshire
County Council and their motives and actions and so on has got
to be treated with some care because it is pure speculation really,
is it not?
(Mr Graham) About the 1950s?
1859. All the things that you said about the
county council. They have not petitioned, we do not know what
their attitude is and we did not know what their attitude was,
not from them at any rate.
(Mr Graham) I am sorry—they have petitioned now but
they have not appeared. They did not appear at the House of Commons
Select Committee and they have not appeared here.
31 Committee Ref: A11, Open Spaces Society and Ramblers'
Association map of Dog Kennel Bridge and associated footpath network
(BUCKCC-10_05-001) Back
| 
