Examination of Witnesses (Questions 5280
- 5299)
5280. However, with the new plans that I have
seen it would seem to be easier to get to the southbound service
of the East London Line, but I would like an assurance on this
because when I looked at the plans it was still quite difficult
to see exactly how that actually might work. If people want step-free
access, they will still have to walk all the way around and anybody
going to a London hospital it will be the same, they will have
to come out and walk the 360 steps and further to get to the London
Hospital. In my Petition I did suggest a more southerly route
and I realise that is not within your remit nor is it possible
because of all the tunnels underneath the London hospital and
Whitechapel Road, but it seems to me to be the possibility of
arrangement with a station at what is the rather under-used Royal
Mail depot. However, I accept that cannot be done.
5281. The proposed start date for Crossrail
is 2010 and I believe the completion date then is 2017. However,
I would say for residents of Durward Street we have already had
the first work because we have already had trenches dug all the
way along the streets specifically to see what services are beneath
the street, so for many weekends we would have the sound of digging
out in Durward Street starting very early on Saturday and Sunday
mornings. That appears to have finished for the moment, but we
have also had on Friday engineers who came into Durward and Kempton
Court to look at where they could drill to see the length of the
piles and as soon as the Crossrail Act is passed, then they intend
to come and drill in several places to look at the length of the
pile, so this year presumably we will be having that work done
and we also are expecting to have a borehole to look at ground
water levels and whatever is going on below the surface. That
will take three to four weeks to drill, the agreements have been
made between the landlord and the contractor, but it will require
five car parking spaces to be vacated and hoarding put up. In
this year alone we will have two disruptive works in Kempton Court
and we had the actual work in the street last year, so I am saying
really from 2007 to 2017, it is a period of ten years that we
will actually have work, not even just from 2010 and seven years.
For this very reason I think we do need to have really good support
on Crossrail from a people's point of view, otherwise we will
not survive. I just think the whole unremittingness of all this
work is really likely to take a toll if not on our physical health,
on our mental health as well. Even if we go to the doctors to
sort of say, "I am feeling a bit ill from all this",
the doctor's surgery is right next door to Sainsbury's worksite
so they will be suffering the same problems really.
5282. I had a brief glimpse of the document
that showed an overstation development of Whitechapel and it was
quite a tall building and this looked very alarming because this
would have been out of scale with the northern streetscape and
the local area. The buildings on the northern side are pretty
well all Victorian buildings, they may look very scruffy and so
on but nevertheless part of the masterplan for Whitechapel is
to improve those buildings back to their original glory and there
are some fine buildings. I mean it may be seen as regeneration,
but it would really not be in keeping. However, I am assured by
Crossrail that in fact they are a railway and not a developer,
or at least I have read that in previous transcripts and I just
would like assurance that we are not suddenly going to have overstation
developments or buildings put upon us.
5283. I have seen the draft Consultation Community
Relations Strategy Framework and I do agree that it appears to
cover all aspects of communication. However, I am sure that Sainsbury's
supermarket thought they had a similar policy, yet many things
went wrong. For instance, during the height of summer the workmen
decided to come to work early to beat the traffic and then get
home early to enjoy summer so they started work at six o'clock
in the morning and this was completely unacceptable to have the
roof metal dropped on the building at six o'clock in the morning.
Sainsbury's since sorted it out, but it is just the sort of thing
that one is concerned about really and along with the ventilation
behind it.
5284. MS SINGLETON: We really do want
to be very much supported and there needs to be an opportunity
for local people to work together to sort out the issues local
to Whitechapel. I did request in the House of Commons that a one-stop
shop be provided, but it was unclear to me whether it was going
to be in Whitechapel or Spitalfields because sometimes we are
written together and sometimes separately, so I would like some
clarification on that. Whilst it has been useful to be included
in the Crossrail Liaison Panel, I believe there are sufficient
concerns for the Whitechapel area to have a working group to deal
with problems arising in the local area, and I say a working group.
The other thing is there seems to be little knowledge of the scale
of the work or any of the changes that will arise in the Whitechapel
area and we would ask Crossrail to put out more information and
publicity in the area now. My Lord, that is all I wish to say.
5285. CHAIRMAN: Ms Lieven, are there
any points of clarification that you want to ask Ms Singleton?
I am not inviting you to cross-examine.
5286. MS LIEVEN: I do not think so, my
Lord. She has very fairly raised a number of concerns which she
has raised with us in the past and most recently in the meeting
a couple of days ago, a number of which I or the witnesses—depending
on how your Lordships wish to deal with it—will respond
to but I do not think I need to ask Ms Singleton any questions.
5287. CHAIRMAN: It seems to me that if
you have your witnesses here there is a number of points she has
raised that you might like to tell us about because we have not
heard your answer.
5288. MS LIEVEN: Certainly, my Lord.
5289. CHAIRMAN: And it would give her
an opportunity to ask questions.
5290. MS LIEVEN: Yes. What I propose
to do is to start by calling Mr Walters who is the chief engineer
at Crossrail and can give evidence on --- I do not think it is
necessary for him to give the evidence on what we are doing at
Whitechapel because I think your Lordships know enough about that,
but Ms Singleton can ask any questions. What he can do is talk
about lorry routes, lorry routes and lorry numbers I should say.
MR TONY
WALTERS, Sworn Examined
by MS LIEVEN
5291. MS LIEVEN: Mr Walters, I think
this is the first time you have given evidence to this Committee?
5292. CHAIRMAN: As far as we are concerned
it is.
5293. MS LIEVEN: Can you explain your
position with the company and something of your background?
(Mr Walters)
I have 30 years' experience in the planning, design and construction
of major infrastructure projects. I have been working on Crossrail
now for five years and during that time initially I was involved
in the planning and design of the submissions that you have before
you for the engineering and more recently been involved in progressing
the Bill through the House of Commons and liaising with petitioners
and sorting out agreements and so on.
5294. CHAIRMAN: What is your professional
discipline?
(Mr Walters) I am a civil engineer. I
am a fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers and a member
of the Institution of Structural Engineers and I have an engineering
degree from Cambridge University.
5295. MS LIEVEN: I think the main thing
I want you to deal with, Mr Walters, is highway implications and
lorry movements. Can we put up, just to remind ourselves, the
plan of the lorry routes, please which is 009.[9]
First of all, can you just confirm, was I right in my answer to
Baroness Fookes that, as far as this site is concerned, all the
lorries are coming down Durward Street from the east and then
exiting west into Vallance Road? Is that right?
(Mr Walters) That is correct.
5296. When we get to Vallance Road there will
also be some lorries coming from the Hanbury Street side?
(Mr Walters) There will.
5297. Can I have put up the relevant page from
the Supplementary Environmental Statement 3.[10]
It is quite difficult to see but this shows, first of all, Vallance
Road to Durward Street, to Whitechapel Road one way, and that
has got a total of 70 vehicles and I think that is roughly made
up of this sort—Sorry, going back to the top, this is peak
construction lorry movements per day, is that right?
(Mr Walters) Yes, there are peak movements
and then non-peak. Non-peak are really the average during the
general life of the worksite and then for a particular period,
maybe 18 or 30 weeks, particularly when excavation of material
is the main work that is being undertaken, there are a lot more
lorries so we then get a peak which we have estimated there as
well as a separate column.
5298. The peak going into Vallance Road is made
up of the 16 which are Vallance Road, Buxton Street to Durward
Street, those, I think, are the vehicles coming from the Hanbury
Street site to the north, is that right?
(Mr Walters) That is correct.
5299. MS LIEVEN: Then we have the 60
vehicles from Brady Street coming from Sainsbury's carpark down
into Durward Street and then into Vallance Road.
(Mr Walters) That is correct. The 60 come
from the Swanlea School or the Essex Wharf site and from the District
Line worksite, so from the two worksites on Durward Street, so
you add the 16 to the 60. Again, I must emphasise that is adding
two peaks together and they may not coincide. Although work is
concurrent at a lot of our railway sites the peaks are not necessarily
concurrent.
9 Crossrail Ref: P40, Whitechapel Station-Proposed
Lorry Routes (TOWHLB-8_04-009) Back
10
Crossrail Supplementary Environmental Statement 3, Table 8.1
Estimated Lorry Movements on Local Roads (SCN-200800317-001) Back
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