Examination of Witnesses (Questions 5240
- 5259)
5240. If we move on to the next exhibit, I can
show you how Crossrail impacts upon this.[2]
We have marked up Kempton Court in red there so your Lordships
can see the same configuration, the L-shaped block and the crescent.
There is no doubt that these properties are going to be materially
impacted by Crossrail because to the south—and it is quite
difficult to see on the large screen, it is easier to see on the
screens in front but if I try and do it from here—we are
carrying out work to Whitechapel Station at surface level by extending
platforms and doing some work to the tracks to the District Line,
so there is a worksite, as the Committee can see looking in front
of you on your screens, on the District Line at Whitechapel Station
and there is various work going on there. There is also a worksite
to the north of Kempton Court called the Durward Street worksite
here (indicating), which is involved in the construction of a
ventilation and emergency escape access shaft, the Durward Street
shaft here (indicating), so there is a worksite impacting to the
north and there is also, albeit somewhat more distantly, a worksite
to the east in the Sainsbury's car park. The Committee will remember
the bus stopping in the Sainsbury's car park. There is a shaft
to be constructed here (indicating), the Cambridge Street shaft,
and some of the car park will be used as a worksite.
5241. I should point out it is not terribly
clear on this one but there is also going to be a small worksite
for a limited period of time in the small part of the car park
of Kempton Court in order for mobile cranes to go in to do work
on the East London Line and the District Line, but that will be
for a relatively short period of time.
5242. Connected with these worksites there will
be lorry movements, the Committee will remember, in this vicinity.
If we look at Exhibit 9, this diagrammatically shows the lorry
movements.[3]
We have got the Sainsbury's worksite here (indicating), Durward
Street to the north, Whitechapel Station to the south and the
west, and Kempton Court is not shown here but it is in that block
there (indicating). There will be lorries coming down Durward
Street going into the Durward Street shaft but the relatively
good news is that they will be accessing out the other way so
there will not be two-way movements down Durward Street. The Committee
has already heard a good deal of evidence about how lorry movements
will be controlled, about section 61 agreements with the Council,
and about the agreement we have reached with both the school and
Tower Hamlets on limiting hours of lorry movements past school
exits and entries including Durward Street.
5243. There is one other impact, unfortunately,
on Kempton Court which I should mention, which is if we go back
to 002, it is extremely difficult to see on this but the thick
light blue lines are the Crossrail platforms and the cross tunnels,
and you can see from that that Kempton Court sits right on top
of the Crossrail platforms.[4]
Kempton Court is a building built on piles and, although we cannot
be absolutely certain, we believe it likely that some of the piles
from Kempton Court will impinge within the area of the tunnel
platform and therefore will have to be, as it is known in the
technical trade, nibbled at the bottom in order to get them out
of the area of the platform tunnels. We carried out detailed work
on this and there will be no structural impact on Kempton Court
but there will be tunnelling impact, particularly from this work
that will have to be done to the piles. It is of short duration
but will produce perceptible groundborne noise while it is going
on, so there is no doubt that they are being impacted from a number
of different directions, including underneath, and those impacts
are fully acknowledged in the relevant parts of the Environmental
Statement.
5244. We carried out a great deal of work on
Kempton Court in preparation for the House of Commons hearing—and
if I can put up 011 first—this is a letter we wrote to the
Petitioners just before the House of Commons appearance on 5 June
2006 and in which we set out the position in respect of noise.[5]
There is just one point I want to highlight which is the fifth
paragraph where we say: "Precisely which properties will
be eligible under the scheme will be determined in the future.
This is because the noise levels in and around Whitechapel Station
may change over time. It is therefore not appropriate to determine
now exactly which properties will be eligible for noise mitigation
and which will not. If this were done now it may that by the time
the construction begins, properties would be provided with noise
mitigation that did not need it or it may be that properties would
not be provided with noise mitigation that would need it."
So we carried out detailed assessments but the final assessments
upon which noise mitigation will be decided are for a future stage
when the detailed design is carried out. In anticipation of the
House of Commons appearance we undertook a comprehensive noise
assessment report so the residents could have all the noise impacts
pulled together in one report and that appears in the exhibits
starting at page 18. I am not going to take the Committee through
it but it is there if the Committee want to see it.
5245. Then in respect of the other Kempton Court
concerns, at 013, we set out in a letter of the same date a response
on all the various impacts that they had raised as concerns and,
if I can just highlight at the bottom of page 13.[6]
The reference to construction traffic and lorry routes and that
these will be the subject of agreement under the Act—assuming
it becomes an Act—with the Council of Tower Hamlets, and
we then set out the proposed lorry routes as we saw them at that
time, and we also in that letter deal with a number of other issues
that have been raised. So we have done what we can in terms of
giving these Petitioners as much information and as much reassurance
as is appropriate at the present time.
5246. My Lords, I think I will leave it there
unless there are any questions at this stage. I do have various
witnesses available if they are needed but I understand that Ms
Singleton is going to make a statement so, if I may, I will take
a view later as to whether we need to call evidence or not.
5247. CHAIRMAN: Are the District Line
works going to be carried out at the same time as the Crossrail
works?
5248. MS LIEVEN: They are all going to
be carried out as part of the Crossrail project; whether they
are actually going to be precisely concurrent within the four
years will depend on the construction time-tabling, but largely
my Lord, yes.
5249. BARNONESS FOOKES: Just a query
about the lorry routes. I may be completely mistaken, but I had
the impression that the lorry routes were going to be in the opposite
direction from which they are shown here off the Whitechapel Road.
They appear to be coming out there and I thought they were going
in there, but, as I say, I may be mistaken so I just need clarification.
5250. MS LIEVEN: My understanding on
instruction—and those behind me will tell me if I have got
it wrong—is in relation to the Durward Street and District
Line worksites the lorries will come into the Sainsbury's site,
and if they are not stopping at the Sainsbury site, cross Brady
Street and go into Durward Street westbound and then either into
the Durward Street site or into the District Line site and then
continue down Durward Street westbound and out into Vallance Road
and then Whitechapel Road.[7]
Your Ladyship may have in mind, and that is my understanding—although
I am no expert on this—is in respect of the Hanbury Street
works the orientation is different. The lorries I think come off
Whitechapel Road, up a street over here (indicating) and then
come out down Vallance Road. I am making it up but it is something
like that (indicating), they do a loop, and then come back down
Vallance Road.
5251. BARNONESS FOOKES: But these two
lots of construction work would not be overlapping?
5252. MS LIEVEN: I think they may be
overlapping for a short period of time, although of course the
Hanbury Street works are much shorter than the works around Kempton
Court and Whitechapel Station. Even if they do overlap, the only
point where the lorries come together is here at the bottom of
Vallance Road.
5253. BARNONESS FOOKES: I thought that
was very narrow.
5254. MS LIEVEN: It is quite narrow but
they are going in the same direction there because they are coming
north up Greatorex Street and south down Vallance Road so they
will all come together in Vallance Road. I will ask those behind
me as to a peak figure for Vallance Road so your Ladyship can
have some overall sense.
5255. CHAIRMAN: Ms Lieven, where is the
famous McDonalds?
5256. MS LIEVEN: McDonalds is, I would
guess, about there (indicating). Is that about right, team?
5257. CHAIRMAN: That is Fulbourne Street,
is it not?
5258. MS LIEVEN: That is Fulbourne Street.
Fulbourne Street comes across here (indicating). This is an indicative
plan. If we go on to the next plan, that, I believe, is Fulbourne
Street (indicating).[8]
That is Vallance Road, that is Durward Street and I believe that
is Fulbourne Street (indicating).
5259. LORD JAMES OF BLACKHEATH: This
is the first time we have had concentration on the possibility
that two converging streams of truck will meet in one very narrow
road. I do not recall having heard that expressed with the clarity
that you have expressed it this afternoon. It concerns me because
of the impact it may have on the issues we have discussed previously,
as to the danger that represents in terms of creating a backlog
of congestion at a time when schools are coming out and the problems
of organising an orderly filter of the traffic on to the Whitechapel
Road without causing a massive tailback into the city. This is
quite important and I do not think we have had any direct recognition
or exposure to the point of the possibility of two converging
streams of trucks. We need to know how many and what treatment
will be given to the handling of those peak concentrations because
it does impact on a number of the issues which we have discussed
previously.
2 Crossrail Ref: P40, Whitechapel Station-Crossrail
Proposals showing Kempton Court (TOWHLB-8_04-002) Back
3
Crossrail Ref: P40, Whitechapel Station-Proposed Lorry Routes
(TOWHLB-8_04-009) Back
4
Crossrail Ref: P40, Whitechapel Station-Crossrail Proposals showing
Kempton Court (TOWHLB-8_04-002) Back
5
Crossrail Ref: P40, Generic correspondence to from CLRL to Whitechapel
residents, 5 June 2006 (TOWHLB-8_04-011) Back
6
Crossrail Ref: P40, Correspondence to from CLRL to Kempton Court
Residents Committee, 5 June 2006 (TOWHLB-8_04-013) Back
7
Crossrail Ref: P40, Proposed lorry routes from Burdett Road Lorry
Holding Area to Whitechapel worksites (TOWHLB-8_04-010) Back
8
Crossrail Ref: P40, Whitechapel Station-Crossrail Proposals showing
Kempton Court (TOWHLB-8_04-002) Back
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