Examination of Witnesses (Questions 5420
- 5439)
5420. MS LIEVEN: My Lord, you can find
the undertakings, yes, but what has been going on behind this
is a lot of discussions with Tower Hamlets about whether we have
got to an appropriate stage at an appropriate time and understanding
that there will be further discussions to be undertaken later
in the process as detailed design proceeds. That is the first
point I wanted to make.
5421. CHAIRMAN: What Mrs Singleton will
want to know is it says here a range of undertakings designed
to protect, for instance, the vicinity of Kempton Court, what
undertakings?
5422. MS LIEVEN: My Lord, so far as the
undertakings that Tower Hamlets were referring to are concerned,
we have in the exhibit bundle produced pages from the Register
of Undertakings given to Swanlea School and your Lordships can
see those at page 87. A lot of the Swanlea School concerns were
not specifically about lorries, they were about a range of other
issues, but there are undertakings about the consultation with
the school. If you look at undertaking 305, "The Promoter
undertakes to work with Tower Hamlets on measures to control the
potential use of Durward Street as a through-route by general
traffic at this time. This will be done in consultation with Tower
Hamlets". Then 301 is dealing with the exit issues. There
is a whole series of undertakings there which, I have to say,
have met the concerns of the school at the present time. Again,
the school is still talking to us and will continue to do so right
through the construction programme, but at the present time the
school is satisfied that we are at the right place at this time.
5423. CHAIRMAN: From 137 onwards we have
got the Kempton Court Residents Committee.
5424. MS LIEVEN: Yes, those are the undertakings
I referred to earlier.
5425. CHAIRMAN: Mrs Singleton, have you
got these?
5426. MS SINGLETON: Yes, I do have them.
5427. CHAIRMAN: I think it would be helpful
if you could find your copy of them because these, after all,
are for your benefit.
5428. MS LIEVEN: There are also a whole
range of undertakings and assurances given to the London Borough
of Tower Hamlets which appear in the main Register which your
Lordships have, and they start at 182. The next point to make
and emphasise is that even in respect of the combined flows on
Vallance Road, it is important to understand that the flows are
not that high in relation to construction traffic. We have got
a flow of something like 60 from the Durward Street sites north
and south and only 16 coming down from Hanbury Street. It is very
easy to get confused at this point. These are peak day flows,
not peak hour or peak three hour flows as is shown with pedestrian
movements at stations, so actually a total of 76 vehicles per
day, even on a route which, as my Lord, Lord Snape made the point,
may have other HGVs coming down it, it is actually not that many.
It is six or seven an hour, one every eight to ten minutes in
a worse case, so there will be vehicles, there is no getting away
from it, but we are not talking about a massively heavy number
on HGVs on Vallance Road.
5429. It is important to remember a point that
Mr Walters made, that it is relatively unlikely—and I cannot
say it is impossible but it is relatively unlikely—that
the peaks of the two sites will coincide anyway but, even if they
do, there is no reason to suppose that Vallance Road cannot cope
with that situation.
5430. CHAIRMAN: What are the 2010 predicted
traffic flows on some of these roads; for instance Vallance Road?
5431. MS LIEVEN: My Lord Chairman, those
will be in background papers to the Environmental Statement. I
cannot give you those figures immediately, since they are largely
only available through the computers, but I can say that in the
Environmental Statement, where increased HGVs were judged against
existing flows, the impact at Vallance Road was not considered
to be significant whereas the impact at Cambridge Heath Road was
because of the much larger number of vehicles at Cambridge Hath
Road. I can find the base figures and give them to you tomorrow.
5432. The third point I would like to make is
to suggest that we draw up a note on traffic flows at these two
locations, coming down Vallance Street and Cambridge Heath Road,
and get that agreed with Tower Hamlets, together with a statement
as to the likely traffic management steps that would be needed
at the two critical points, the east and west junctions with Durward
Street. Then your Lordships can see where we and Tower Hamlets
are at this point in the construction/design process, so that
your Lordships can be confident that we and Tower Hamlets have
put our minds to the matter at the present time.
5433. CHAIRMAN: This will be the first
time we have heard anything concrete about this.
5434. MS LIEVEN: I would suggest that
we draw up such a note and take it to Tower Hamlets and produce
to your Lordships an agreed note between us and the highway authority.
That will not set in stone what happens at these locations—because
it is wholly appropriate that when a contractor is appointed and
the detailed design is taken forward, we, the contractors and
the local authority work together—but I can see that it
might give your Lordships comfort to understand where we have
got to so far and what Tower Hamlet's view on that was.
5435. CHAIRMAN: It is not just us, it
is the Petitioners.
5436. MS LIEVEN: Absolutely, my Lord.
I will not be able to do that within 24 hours because, obviously,
we need to go to Tower Hamlets, but we could produce it in the
course of next week. I hope that could cover the points of concern
that have been raised this afternoon.
5437. BARONESS FOOKES: While we are on
this point: you will recall, my Lord Chairman, that last week
there was a difference of view as to whether lorries could get
around a particular corner. Just for the moment names escape me
but there was a distinct difference of view between the engineer
and the Petitioners. That could also be included if you are going
to look more closely at all these matters. If you are looking
in specific terms in this area, it would be a pity to leave out
something that could be quite germane.
5438. MS LIEVEN: I have to admit I do
not know which corner it is, but I will ask Mr Mould and I will
make sure that is included in the note at the same time.
5439. BARONESS FOOKES: My memory is slightly
faulty but I do recall the incident very clearly and it can easily
be looked up.
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