Examination of Witnesses (Questions 7020
- 7039)
7020. Can we put these in the tables?
(Mr Donovan) In table 36?
7021. CHAIRMAN: Any table you want.
7022. MR CAMERON: I hesitate to interrupt,
but if you go to tables for the jobs figures on pages 42 and 43,
the note says, "Number of regeneration jobs created in development
areas attributable to Crossrail".[32]33
(Mr Donovan) Yes.
7023. MR CAMERON: If those jobs are attributable
to Crossrail, if you step back and do not have Crossrail at all,
are those jobs likely to be provided? That is the first question.
7024. CHAIRMAN: I am not asking you that.
You have got plans as an alternative to Crossrail because for
the moment you are not going to get it going through to Ebbsfleet.
You will in the end probably but not at the moment. You have plans
for alternative methods of access.
(Mr Donovan)
Sorry, I misunderstood. I see what you mean.
7025. I wondered whether you have got figures
which indicate what would be the result of those if you were successful.
(Mr Donovan) I am with you. I see what
you mean. At the moment we have not got the detail yet on something
like the transits as to how many additional jobs they would help
generate, so we could not say that were we successful with the
transit through north Bexley, which is in a sense our number one
priority, that would equate to an additional number of jobs of
X. What we are doing is working with Transport for London to see
how many jobs could be attributed to that in the same way that
we are attributing jobs to Crossrail here. What is true is that
we are anticipating something around 5,000 to 8,000 jobs throughout
the north of Bexley through the plan period up to 2016. We think
those would probably happen in any event but, as I said, the quality
and types of those jobs would be changed considerably were we
able to get a transit in place. The risk we run is that if we
do not get a transit and our accessibility relative to other areas
drops we will not be able to secure those jobs that we are planning
for.
7026. CHAIRMAN: I do not think you are
going to be able to give us any figures at all, are you?
(Mr Donovan)
On what these other types of public transport would generate?
7027. Supposing that you do not have Crossrail
until 2020, say, you have got alternative plans for your transit
and probably other transport improvements as well, you have no
figures to show what would be the effect of that on jobs, the
quality of jobs and housing.
(Mr Donovan) That is what we are working
on at the moment.
7028. You have no figures at the moment.
(Mr Donovan) We have the total figures
that we are planning to achieve but we have no detailed figures
of the impact of the transit on those, or the impact if we were
successful in extending the Docklands Light Railway.
7029. So you cannot give us any comparisons
at all?
(Mr Donovan) Not between Crossrail and
the others because we have never viewed them as in competition.
We have seen them as a combination and we would need all of them
because they all do different things.
7030. I just do not understand this. You have
told us that the transit, if it came, would come long before the
extension of Crossrail to Ebbsfleet.
(Mr Donovan) Yes.
7031. You have still got absolutely no figures
at all for that eventuality.
(Mr Donovan) The transit is not about
creating jobs, if I may say, it is about trying to change the
way people get to and from work.
7032. It is about the quality of employment,
is it not?
(Mr Donovan) Yes, and it is about improving
public transport accessibility.
7033. Exactly.
(Mr Donovan) We are programmed to achieve
between 8,000 and 10,000 new jobs in the north of the borough
up to 2016.
7034. Without Crossrail?
(Mr Donovan) Without Crossrail.
7035. Where can we find these figures?
(Mr Donovan) They are not here in the
evidence but they are part of our planning framework set out in
our local—
7036. That is what I am asking you. If they
are not in the evidence, how do we do a comparative exercise?
(Mr Donovan) I suppose because the way
we have thought of it is we have not seen them as one thing or
the other. What we have said is this is what we think over and
above the jobs that would be provided that Crossrail could bring,
if you see what I mean.
7037. LORD YOUNG OF NORWOOD GREEN: If
I may, you might not but someone else might say, "You are
asking us to think about half a billion plus," and if you
allow for inflation even more, and someone might well say, "I
want to do a comparative analysis because I want to know what
benefits I am going to get over and above your interim transport
improvement plans". I think the Chairman is making a very
valid point and even if we do not make it then someone else will,
that is for sure.
(Mr Donovan)
Certainly the other transport things we are talking about at the
moment we are seeing as helping us achieve the numbers of jobs
we are projected to get. I would suggest that if we do not get
those then a lot of that job projection that we are currently
under would be at risk in any event. It is more that way. They
are not strictly comparable because we are not seeing them as
comparable. It is not, "Do you have Crossrail or something
else?", it is without those package of schemes, and Crossrail
adds that additional amount to it but it is on top of the projected
amount we would expect to get under the current framework, which
also includes some estimate of other public transport improvements
we may get.
7038. CHAIRMAN: Mr Donovan, I am going
to have one last try. You were talking about improvements up to
2016.
(Mr Donovan)
Yes.
7039. That is before Crossrail starts at all.
(Mr Donovan) Yes.
32 33 Committee Ref: A35, Benefits of Crossrail 3:
Increase in employment (unweighted) (BEXYLB-44_05A-042) Back
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