Examination of Witnesses (Questions 3580
- 3599)
3580. I mean both actually.
(Mr Berryman) I think the answer to both those questions
is yes, we will.
3581. Can we put up the plan of the route coming
out of Liverpool Street Station, which is just a more distant
view than the one you have on the screen already?[42]
I got the impression from the presentation, I cannot remember
if it was at the beginning of the day or not or Mr Mould's presentation
a bit later, and the alignment of Whitechapel Station was confirmed,
but I got the impression that the alignment of the new station
at Whitechapel was resolved before the route alignment and that
that is what created this big S-bend that we have. Is that correct?
(Mr Berryman) That is substantially correct.
I think the point that was identified there was the potential
worksites here and here (indicating) and there possibly would
have been some possibility of very minor movements within that,
but generally in that corridor was the identified route for the
station tunnels.
3582. Lastly, we got this very large package
of information from the Promoters yesterday which I understand,
though we have not read all the way through, but I did spot a
couple of pages at the end and I wonder, since I have them here,
whether we could look at those briefly and then I will be done.
They highlight an issue that has been baffling a lot of the Petitioners
I am representing for some time, but I have never seen it so graphically
illustrated before. I am not quite sure why these papers are in
this report at all—
3583. CHAIRMAN: Never mind that, they
are, so you ask questions about them.
3584. MR WHEELER: You have the base route
coming off here (indicating) and this is, I think, an option,
though I am not going to talk about options and stuff like that,
but it seems to go through all these great big, tall buildings
and so on. We know where the base route goes, up through all the
listed buildings and so on. Could we go on to the next one? What
I simply wonder is what is stopping you going just from one station
directly to the other, straight through here (indicating)?
3585. CHAIRMAN: Mr Wheeler, we are stopping
him because it is not within the principle of the Bill. The route
of the tunnels is within the principle of the Bill and there is
nothing that we can do about it. It is as simple as that. It is
the same point that I made this morning.
3586. MR WHEELER: It is, yes, I acknowledge
that. Well, I will leave it at that then. As I say, we got these
papers very late last night. I looked at them and I thought that,
if this is information that is now being presented to us in response,
one might comment on it and that is the immediate comment that
arises.
3587. CHAIRMAN: You can comment on it,
but at the moment you are asking questions.
3588. MR WHEELER: Well, I was going to
ask what my question was and you have answered it, so thank you.
3589. CHAIRMAN: Before anything further
happens, we are going to listen to Ms Cove.
3590. MR WHEELER: Well, I have completed
my questions, my Lord.
3591. CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much.
I do not know whether Mr Mould wants to ask anything?
3592. MR MOULD: No, I think we should
get on with Ms Cove. I have a number of things which I will need
to come back to you on tomorrow.
3593. CHAIRMAN: You can come back on
them tomorrow and Mr Wheeler can have the final say.
3594. MR MOULD: What I am going to do,
as you know, is I am going to call Professor Mair tomorrow.
3595. CHAIRMAN: I realise that Ms Cove
has been waiting all afternoon and I think we really are duty-bound
to hear from her.
The witness withdrew
The following Petition against the Bill was read:
The Petition of the Spitalfields Community Association.
MS JIL
COVE appeared as Agent.
3596. CHAIRMAN: I am afraid there is
always a wait in legal proceedings if you are not extremely lucky,
but we are glad you are still here. Do you have time now to present
this? We can go on until five.
The Petition of Spitalfields Community
Association
3597. MS COVE: Yes, I am sure I have
got time. In fact I thought I had begun to negotiate with counsel
that I would go away and come back tomorrow morning, but I am
here, so I will present my Petition.
3598. Having listened to the sort of technicalities,
as I mentioned to you yesterday, you may be quite relieved that
my presentation to you is of a very simple nature, I hope, and
it concerns a number of things. First of all, let me just say,
as I said yesterday, that I am the Secretary of the Spitalfields
Community Association which was formed in 1998 and we have 185
members across the diverse community and our function is to try
to present the widest possible view of all matters really that
have an impact on the living and working conditions and the well-being
of local residents and small businesses.
3599. You will already know that other Petitioners
will be dealing with specific details relating to the tunnel and
Whitechapel Station, but I would just say in passing that in my
Petition there was a section offering an alternative site for
the Whitechapel Station which was more or less directly opposite,
across the road, on a vacant or semi-vacant plot which in fact
the Promoters just did not address in their response to my Petition,
but in fact just gave me a routine justification for the supposed
regeneration of the facilities of the station itself.
42 Crossrail Ref: P23, Plan of building development
east of Liverpool Street (1) (SCN-20080311-013) Back
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