Examination of Witnesses (Questions 11800
- 11819)
11800. MS KHELA: Yes.
11801. CHAIRMAN: We are now in the Second
House.
11802. MS KHELA: Yes, but I am still
going back to the reference which does open the Select Committee
to changing what would ordinarily be the practice of the House.
11803. CHAIRMAN: That may be the House
of Commons Select Committee but we cannot do it.
11804. MS KHELA: Is it possible that
this question could be asked?
11805. CHAIRMAN: No. Standing Orders
are the ones under which we have to operate.
11806. MS KHELA: Even if there has been
an injustice that has prejudiced your Petitioners?
11807. CHAIRMAN: I do not know what it
would prejudice, but I can just tell you that changing the Standing
Orders of the House is a fairly complicated exercise.
11808. MS KHELA: Moving it from a very
harmful alignment to an alignment that Victorian railwaymen would
be rather proud of under main roads, I think would be a reasonable
modification.
11809. CHAIRMAN: Sorry, go on.
11810. MS KHELA: Changing the alignment
from what is presently a harmful alignment to what Victorian railwaymen
did, which was to go under the main roads, which is exactly what
the Channel Tunnel Rail Link did, I think would be a reasonable
modification to the present scheme.
11811. CHAIRMAN: I am terribly sorry,
Ms Khela, we have no powers to do anything of the kind.
11812. MS KHELA: Mr Elvin says any defect
in this Bill, which will be a defect, caused by omitting Option
B from the Environmental Statement and Supplementary Environmental
Statements—
11813. CHAIRMAN: Did he say that in this
House or in the Commons.
11814. MS KHELA: He said that in this
House. Any defect in the Bill caused by omitting Option B from
the Environmental Statement and Supplementary Environmental Statements
can simply be remedied by producing another supplementary paper.
At paragraph 447 he says: "All Mr Horton is arguing about,
if he succeeds, would lead to another Supplementary ES of a few
pages. It would not give any basis for traversing the principle
of the Bill which your Lordship has put very clear this morning.
My Lords, I therefore urge the Committee, at least before proceeding
any further, to hear me ... " No, he cannot, because there
has been an injustice. There is a duty to consult with the public
and that duty has not been fulfilled so, therefore, this Bill
will be going through Parliament as an unlawful Bill.
11815. CHAIRMAN: And what are we to do
about it?
11816. MS KHELA: I think it must be reported
to the House in one form or another. This information that has
been presented to dismiss Option B, its veracity must be tested
and the reasons why the Council has supported the location of
Whitechapel Station must also be examined in a public inquiry.
11817. CHAIRMAN: But if we go for that
exercise we will be querying the principle of the Bill which has
been given a Second Reading, will we not?
11818. MS KHELA: Not if we put in a Transport
and Works Act on a modification on this part of the alignment
and, therefore,—
11819. CHAIRMAN: No, we cannot do that.
I have told you this several times. We have no powers to do it.
Unless it is within the limits of deviation we cannot make a recommendation.
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