Examination of Witnesses (Questions 2800
- 2819)
2800. CHAIRMAN: I have got a list of
the issues too.
2801. MR ELVIN: I hope they match up.
As the Select Committee is aware, the key aspects of Crossrail
in this particular area are in three parts. Firstly, there are
the twin running tunnels of Crossrail at a depth of approximately
30 metres under the area linking Liverpool Street with Whitechapel.
There is the construction of the new Whitechapel Station with
the interchange between Crossrail , the Underground and the East
London Line, which the Committee has seen on its site visit as
well as already considering last week. Thirdly, there is the construction
of a new shaft for emerging and ventilation purposes on the corner
of Hanbury Street and Spelman Street.
2802. CHAIRMAN: That is an example, is
it not, Mr Elvin, of where the Promoters themselves have decided
to change what used to be in the draft legislation?
2803. MR ELVIN: Indeed. The next point
I was going to make was just to give your Lordships very briefly
a little bit of the history. As your Lordship well knows, the
original Bill scheme had a larger shaft and wide effects in that
at the time of the deposit of the original Bill the Hanbury Street
shaft was proposed to be one of the sites for the launch of the
tunnel boring machine, and there was a need, therefore, for an
additional tunnel going up to the Pedley Street area from which
spoil would be removed underground. So the extent of the works
were bigger in physical terms of the shaft size and in terms of
the underground works. As Mr Mould pointed out, you will see the
size of the worksite at Hanbury Street encompassed not only the
current worksite but to the west, Britannia House—the office
or industrial block just to the west—which is retained under
the current scheme but was not retained under the original Bill
scheme. Indeed, at an earlier stage a number of other shaft locations
had been considered before alighting on Hanbury Street at the
time of the Bill and they are shown on that particular plan and
considered in the Environmental Assessment.[5]
As I said, the original proposals involved the demolition of Britannia
House but the new shaft site now is considerably smaller and I
will come back to that when I deal with the shaft issues.
2804. The main issues which we identify from
the Petitions, and no doubt the Committee will tell us if there
are some we have omitted, are firstly the need for the proposals,
which includes issues relating to the alignment of the tunnels,
as you have just heard—whether, therefore, Crossrail should
go under the Spitalfields area at all; the need for the shaft
in Hanbury Street; concerns with regard to the effects of settlement
from the running tunnels on buildings within the area; concerns
with regard to the movements of lorries, heavy goods vehicles
going to and from the site; concerns with regard to noise from
construction and the operation of the shaft once it is constructed;
concerns with regard to the Community Liaison Panel, which the
House of Commons Select Committee requested us to enable and facilitate;
and certain legal issues, as again you have just heard from Mr
Carpenter, arising with regard to Environmental Impact Assessment.
2805. CHAIRMAN: Not just those, there
is the ECD Directive, the Environmental something.
2806. MR ELVIN: That was my last point,
my Lord, the Environmental Impact Assessment Directive.
2807. CHAIRMAN: No. There is the Environmental
Impact Directive, there is the Environmental Noise Directive,
there is the Environmental, I have forgotten what the C stands
for.
2808. LORD SNAPE: ECHR.
2809. CHAIRMAN: No, that is the European
Convention on Human Rights, that is another point.
2810. MR ELVIN: Noise certainly is on
my list.
2811. CHAIRMAN: The Environmental something
Directive, ECD it is referred to in the Petitions.
2812. MR ELVIN: We will check that, my
Lord.
2813. CHAIRMAN: The thing about those
is the directives themselves are one thing but they have no immediate
effect in this country, they have been implemented by regulations
which transpose them, therefore if we are going to be asked to
look at that we will have to know what these regulations say.
2814. MR ELVIN: I am going to deal with
the noise issues in particular on a very general basis now. We
will be calling Mr Thornely-Taylor in due course and if specific
issues are raised before the Committee on those matters we will
then make more detailed submissions on them.
2815. CHAIRMAN: It has been said that
here is a directive about environmental noise.
2816. MR ELVIN: Yes, there is the Noise
Directive.
2817. CHAIRMAN: Presumably that has been
implemented by regulations.
2818. MR ELVIN: It has, and Mr Thornely-Taylor
will be giving evidence on the extent to which it impinges in
reality.
2819. CHAIRMAN: Then there are the points
about the European Convention on Human Rights.
5 Crossrail Ref: P23, Figure 6.1, Hanbury Street Shaft
Location Options (TOWHLB-XR5C-011) Back
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