London UK on 12:26pm Sat 11 Aug 07
By©Muhammad Haque
Organizer
Khoodeelaar! No to Crossrail hole Bill
The campaign against Crossrail hole Bill and in defence of the Brick Lane, Whitechapel, Stepney London n E1 Area
1125 Hrs GMT
Saturday 11 August 2007
“The claim that 'Crossrail', as it is contained in the present 'Crossrail Bill' in the UK House of Commons, is the right answer to the transport needs of London is a lie. Crossrail has never been the answer. Most serious students of economics have rejected the plug that Crossrail is the panacea which Ken Livingstone has been claiming it to be. Crossrail is ill thought out . It is wasteful already as a typical Ken Livingstone-indulgin
g stunt at extra cost to ordinary people in London. The craze that Livingstone is undergoing for Crossrail will explode in his face when it is shown up for the con that it is. Livingstone is not behaving rationally on this. What a comment on a man who has made a career at the expense of the people of London by claiming to be rational. The waste of money Livingstone typifies must be stopped. Ordinary people of and in London can’t wait to be able to have our say on platforms that the bureaucratized office of mayor is automatically granted.”
www: khoodeelaar.com
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Posted by: Mrs Marina Morrisson Atwater, London on 5:12pm Sat 18 Aug 07
Appeal to West London - Please help save us from Crossrail too
We are grateful that the people of West London will be saved from tram plans that created more harm than benefits but we hope they will spare a thought for us over Crossrail. The Residents Society of Mayfair and St James's is normally supportive of public transport projects provided they are lawful, value for money and do not cause unnecessary harm. Unfortunately, the Crossrail Bill fails on all counts causing unnecessary harm in both East and West London.
Over 7,500 residents live in Mayfair and contrary to claims by Crossrail that most are wealthy, the residents come from diverse socio-economic backgrounds. Along with a large transient and tourist population, there are many permanent residents and local businesses. In particular, there are a large number of families living in areas of social housing, which will be affected by Crossrail. Around 235 of the 750 buildings in the area are also listed as being of special architectural or historic interest including fragile Georgian buildings. We have spent years engaged in what was clearly an expensive mock consultation exercise with Crossrail to ensure they selected the best route with the least possible risk of harm using a parking lot in Cavendish Square but the Promoter is on record saying this option was rejected without consideration. The Crossrail Commitee do not appear to accept the need for Crossrail to justify wanting permission for a pre-determined route, which tunnels under historic and residential property without adequate compensation measures or revealing the full extent of the harm before Crossrail are given permission with wide-ranging powers. In contrast, the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL) Committee discouraged tunneling underneath sensitive historic buildings in residential areas due to the risk of harm. Instead, the Crossrail Select Committee have prevented a railway planning expert, who successfully delivered CTRL and the Jubilee Line from giving evidence in public on the Promoter’s refusal to consider alternatives, once disclosed documents corroborated his experience with the Crossrail team.
Crossrail is a £16billion project. We believe Crossrail is likely to be the predicted bottomless pit reported in The Times except it will be using taxpayers’ money for the lifetime of the project unless the Treasury protects the public purse from a Eurotunnel Millennium Dome fiasco. Similarly to the Olympics, we share the view in Whitehall as stated in a Financial Times report that “the project’s backers are likely to keep cost projections as low as possible to secure approval”. To date, in newspaper reports, the business community has offered not guaranteed to pay a token one-off contribution even though the City and Canary Wharf are the primary beneficiaries of the Crossrail scheme. Reports of Crossrail’s costs vacillate as much as the ostensible projected benefits but there is a distinct lack of substantiated evidence. On April 25, 2007, the Society wrote requesting substantiated evidence about Crossrail’s lawfulness, funding and financing and is yet to receive a response. A pattern has emerged about the Crossrail project, when the Promoter is asked for evidence of their claims – it is absent.
We agree with shadow transport secretary Chris Grayling’s aide Campbell Storey, on the matter of the Crossrail Bill in its present form, who is quoted by Transport secretary Douglas Alexander as saying: "Funding, publicly our position is: we don't think the Government is serious about this. Privately: it is the wrong project (bad route, too expensive) and we wouldn't want to be associated with it." Indeed, Mr Grayling says: “There are problems with the route and with the costings.” To-date, the Crossrail Bill has been allowed to proceed through Parliament without evidence being scrutinised in relation to the lawfulness, funding or viability of the project. This would be unthinkable if one were taking out a mortgage to buy a house let alone giving permission and funding for the largest infrastructure project in Europe.
Crossrail not complied with a legal requirement to consider alternative routes on the central section taking into account environmental impacts despite having spent £300-400 million of public monies. A legal opinion has been disclosed, which says the Crossrail Bill is unlawful in its present form and the Bill is likely to face a legal challenge because of the failure to consider less harmful routes in both Mayfair and the East End of London.
We think if billions of pounds are to be spent on Crossrail, it should at least be the best scheme with the least possible harm in London and any funding using taxpayers money should only be allowed with full information about benefits and liabilities. We hope MPs will consider the economic and environmental implications of the Crossrail Bill at the third reading in Parliament before any further time or public monies are spent on the scheme.
We share the relief that communities in Shepherds Bush will be saved from a poor scheme but hope you will request that the Mayor Ken Livingstone provide evidence of Crossrail's lawfulness, harm and cost to the public purse before asking you to support his vision. After all, exchanging one bad scheme for a bigger bad scheme cannot be good for London.
Mrs Marina Morrisson Atwater
On behalf of the Residents Society of Mayfair and St James’s
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