Examination of Witnesses (Questions 1980
- 1999)
1980. CHAIRMAN: Is it the timetabling?
1981. MR MOULD: That is right. So that
means that it is still on target for railway Petitioners to be
heard by this Committee starting on 21 April.
1982. CHAIRMAN: Good.
1983. MR MOULD: The headline point is
that the Office of Rail Regulation is willing to approve an access
option on the basis of a number of modifications to it. I do not
think it would be right for me to go into any detail at this stage—
1984. CHAIRMAN: It would not mean anything
to us anyway!
1985. MR MOULD: I should say, not least
because the Promoter is also still ingesting what the Regulator
has said. The key point is that the access option process is running
to schedule. My Lord, that is all I propose to say about that.
1986. I turn, then, to the business of the day,
and the first Petition that your Lordships are to hear is that
made by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. May I deal, first
of all, with the point your Lordship raised about noise. The position,
as I understand it, is that Tower Hamlets is one of a number of
local authorities whose concerns about fixed noise installations
are being dealt with under the aegis of the Petition of the London
Borough of Havering; they are acting as the lead authority in
relation to that. So, unless Mr Drabble corrects me later, I suspect
that Tower Hamlets are presently content to leave the matter of
submissions to your Lordships' House on that topic to be dealt
with under the Petition of the London Borough of Havering. As
your Lordships will recall, that Petition was, I think, put off
last week to be rearranged for a date in the near future. So that
is my understanding of the position with regards to fixed noise.
1987. CHAIRMAN: Nevertheless, have Tower
Hamlets seen this new document?
1988. MR MOULD: That I cannot say.
1989. CHAIRMAN: It has the directional
noise readings from ventilation shafts, of which quite a lot are
in Tower Hamlets.
1990. MR MOULD: Yes, of course. I am
told that our understanding is that Tower Hamlets have not seen
the letter to which you referred—the letter of last night—but
we believe that they have seen the paper which went with it. As
I say, Mr Drabble will explain the position on that, no doubt.
1991. MR DRABBLE: My Lords, the simple
answer is I do not know. Mr Mould is entirely correct in saying
that Havering are the lead borough dealing with the fixed noise
issue; I am not instructed to take any points on fixed noise today
and will not be doing so. Quite where this particular paper has
got to, in between Havering and ourselves, I simply do not know,
I am afraid, but I am not concerned about it—we have no
reason to have any concerns.
1992. CHAIRMAN: When you have had a chance
to look at it, if there is anything in it which you want Havering
to raise, tell Havering.
1993. MR DRABBLE: We absolutely will.
That is the way in which it has been working.
1994. CHAIRMAN: I do not know how much
of this Petition is going to be pursued. There are quite a lot
of points in it.
1995. MR MOULD: My Lord, I think the
position is this: until a few moments ago there was one matter
which Mr Drabble was going to raise with the Committee relating
to the project plan, which the Promoter and the London Borough
have been negotiating, for the reinstatement of a gypsy and traveller
caravan site at Eleanor Street in the Bow Triangle.
1996. CHAIRMAN: I gather that has been
settled.
1997. MR MOULD: We have managed to reach
a common position, which I will explain to your Lordships, if
I may, very briefly, in a moment.
1998. CHAIRMAN: I think we are quite
interested in this. We would like to know in what way it has been
settled. It is a sensitive issue and something which we ought
to know about.
1999. MR MOULD: Of course. That is precisely
what I shall do. That aside, Mr Drabble, I think, proposes to
read a statement to the Committee explaining the London Borough's
position in relation to other matters that are set out in that
Petition. If I may, I will leave him to do that. Then I will respond,
if necessary, in relation to any points arising from that statement.
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