Examination of Witnesses (Questions 2920
- 2939)
2920. CHAIRMAN: In a reasonable manner.
2921. MR ELVIN: Absolutely, my Lord.
2922. CHAIRMAN: Is that something we
ought to consider?
2923. MR ELVIN: We say that Parliament
has had the Environmental Statement. We have certainly laid before
the House of Commons, both at second reading and at third reading,
the correspondence in the form of command papers which had been
received by those objecting to it. Certainly to date the Committee
below has not considered it necessary to criticise the statement.
I suppose technically it is within the remit of this Committee
to express its dissatisfaction with the Environmental Statement.
2924. CHAIRMAN: Not the details but the
methodology.
2925. MR ELVIN: You would be entitled
to say that there is a flaw in the Environmental Statement which
is so serious that it cannot be regarded as a proper Environmental
Statement, in which case the Bill process must come to a halt.
2926. CHAIRMAN: Just to take you back
to one moment, on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link this is referred
to in the Petition of the Residents' Association at paragraph
33.
2927. MR ELVIN: Yes.
2928. CHAIRMAN: It may well be that you
can give some comfort to the Residents' Association about this.
The Petition of the Spitalfields Community
Association
2929. MR ELVIN: The structure that was
used on CTRL is a perfectly acceptable one in general terms and
in terms of meeting the recommendation of the Select Committee
in the House of Commons. The difficulty that may exist in practice
is the relations between the community and the London Borough
of Tower Hamlets. Certainly the Cooper's Lane Working Group was
chaired by an officer of Camden Council. I make the position clear
as I made it in the place below: we are happy to facilitate any
constitution of the Panel which the community finds best represents
its ability to communicate and liaise with us over the project.
Whether that is in the Cooper's Lane model or some other model,
if we can facilitate it we will but it is not really within our
hands. We can provide the means, but unless the community takes
the opportunities we are rather in their hands as to whether it
achieves anything. We are certainly willing to give the comfort
of setting up the CTRL-type working party if that is thought to
be appropriate.
2930. CHAIRMAN: Thank you.
2931. MR ELVIN: My Lord Chairman, that
is all I was going to say by way of introduction. It is a little
longer than normal simply because we are dealing with a whole
week's Petitioners.
2932. CHAIRMAN: Do you want to say anything
about health?
2933. MR ELVIN: The Health Assessment
is something which is being taken forward. It does need the input
of the Community Panel to help us refine it further. As I made
clear to the Commons in January last year, it is not something
that the Panel has at this stage been able to assist with, but
it is something that will be taken forward.
2934. CHAIRMAN: I am told we are going
to hear evidence from Dr Safir.
2935. MR ELVIN: We see the role of the
local GPs and the local community as critical to monitoring health
issues and health impacts. It does require co-operation as well.
2936. CHAIRMAN: Lord Brooke was asking
for a copy of what you have just stated to us.
2937. MR ELVIN: Perhaps I could let your
Lordships have a copy tomorrow. Whilst the transcript will be
available, it is fair to say that your Lordships will get a lot
more detail cross-referencing to the documents from my note. I
have not read all of them out and you may find that helpful.
2938. CHAIRMAN: Mr Elvin, thank you very
much. There are many other points which you raised in your Petitions.
I do not expect you to deal with any more of them than you wish
to at the moment. The rest will have to arise when the Petitioners
put them forward.
2939. MR ELVIN: We took the view that
the Committee would be helped by an overview of the main points
because it is likely there will be smaller points raised and we
will deal with those, if it is convenient to the Committee, as
matters proceed.
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