Examination of Witnesses (Questions 7700
- 7719)
7700. Stakeholders then made further representations
and the ORR is currently considering these before it publishes
its final decision.
7701. The Office of Rail Regulation expects
to make a final decision on the Crossrail access option in mid
April.
7702. CHAIRMAN: Mid April?
7703. MR TAYLOR: Mid April, yes, which
should be in time to inform the hearing of any railway industry
Petitioners by the Committee. This is later than had been anticipated.
The ORR cannot specify a particular date at this stage but that
should firm up in about a week's time.
7704. The ORR is aware of the importance of
the timing of this decision for the hearing by the Select Committee
of the railway Petitioners; equally, it is conscious of the importance
of making its decision following a legally and procedurally robust
process.
7705. As the Promoter has previously stated,
if a suitable Access Option is approved then the Promoter will
seek to cut back the railway-related clauses in the Crossrail
Bill. The policy on this has already been explained in the supporting
Information Paper to the application for the Access Option in
July of 2007 (which is available from the ORR's website).
7706. At the meeting of the Crossrail Railway
Stakeholders Forum on 26 March of this year, the Parliamentary
Under Secretary of State for Transport, Tom Harris MP, made it
clear to the assembled representatives of the railway industry
that he was alive to the needs to provide updated information
on the cutting back of Bill powers as soon as possible.
7707. This information will not be the Bill
amendments themselves. The railway clauses are public provisions
and proposed amendments to them would be brought forward at the
subsequent public stages of the Bill. Line by line scrutiny of
the drafting is appropriate at the public stages but is not necessary
at this stage of the Bill process.
7708. But recognising the interests of Petitioners,
a further statement of policy on amendments to the railway clauses
will be made shortly to provide clarity on what is intended for
each clause.
7709. CHAIRMAN: What do you mean by "shortly"?
7710. MR TAYLOR: I am coming to that,
my Lord. I will get there; just let me finish this paragraph,
if I may? It is expected that this will largely involve the deletion
of clauses and I can say now that the amendments will remove any
overriding duties on the ORR.
7711. This statement will not be held back until
the ORR's final decision is reached but will of course be subject
to that final decision being satisfactory to the Promoter.
7712. The intention is to send out this policy
statement to Petitioners no later than 11 April—that is
a week tomorrow. This will give two clear weeks before Petitioners
are heard on matters relating to Bill powers—and the Committee
will recall that we have two weeks of railway Petitioners and
the way the programme has been developed the idea is to put those
with concerns relating to Bill powers in the second week.
7713. The Promoter believes that this gives
adequate time for Petitioners to prepare before appearing in Committee.
7714. My Lord, I hope that assists the Committee.
7715. CHAIRMAN: Do you suppose that the
railway Petitioners have enough information, or will have enough
information after 11 April to be able to proceed?
7716. MR TAYLOR: Indeed; that is exactly
what we intend to ensure is the case.
7717. CHAIRMAN: I can tell you that if
this thing goes much after 8 May there may be great difficulty
about a quorum in this Committee.
7718. MR TAYLOR: My Lord, you made that
clear on Tuesday.
7719. CHAIRMAN: And the Secretary of
State ought to know that.
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