MINUTES OF ORAL EVIDENCE. taken before HIGH SPEED RAIL COMMITTEE. On the HIGH SPEED RAIL (LONDON WEST MIDLANDS) BILL. Monday 1 December 2014 (Evening)

Transcription

1 PUBLIC SESSION MINUTES OF ORAL EVIDENCE taken before HIGH SPEED RAIL COMMITTEE On the HIGH SPEED RAIL (LONDON WEST MIDLANDS) BILL Monday 1 December 2014 (Evening) In Committee Room 5 PRESENT: Mr Robert Syms (Chair) Mr Henry Bellingham Sir Peter Bottomley Ian Mearns Mr Michael Thornton Yasmin Qureshi IN ATTENDANCE Mr Timothy Mould QC, Lead Counsel, Department for Transport Mr James Strachan QC, Counsel, Department for Transport Mr Richard Lloyd Witnesses: Ms Christine Philp Ms Christina O Sullivan Mr Tim Smart, International Director for High Speed Rail, CH2M Hill Mr Peter Miller, Head of Environment and Planning, HS2 Ltd IN PUBLIC SESSION

2 INDEX Subject Page Christina O Sullivan and Christine Philp Submissions from Ms Philp (Cont d) 3 Mr Smart, examined by Mr Mould 6 Mr Smart, cross-examined by Ms Philp 17 Mr Smart, cross-examined by Ms O Sullivan 20 Mr Smart, re-examined by Mr Mould 24 Richard Lloyd Introduction from Mr Strachan 34 Submissions from Mr Lloyd 36 Heart of England High Speed Railway Action Group Submissions from Mr Lloyd 63 Response from Mr Strachan 72 Mr Miller, examined by Mr Strachan 73 Mr Miller, cross-examined by Mr Lloyd 78 2

3 (At 16.25) 1. CHAIR: Order, order. Thank you very much everybody. Sorry for the one hour adjournment. Ms Philp, please continue with your presentation. Christina O Sullivan and Christine Philp 2. MS PHILP: I have here a list, which you will have before you, most of the activities that happen in Berkswell and Balsall, which just show you what a very lively, unusually lively community the two combined create. I won t read it all to you; I ll just 3. CHAIR: What is wiggle waggle together? 4. MS PHILP: Have I got to demonstrate? I ll just read to you the Berkswell and Balsall ones, which is the Tennis Club, which is open all the time and it has night lighting, so it s open just about 24/7 every day of the week and is really thriving. On top of that there is the Berkswell and Balsall Hockey Club, Berkswell and Balsall Tennis Club, again. I am missing them all out myself in order to save you. Berkswell and Balsall tennis, tennis, tennis, Hornets, Zumba, and Rugby Club all these things that you can see in front of you are shared mutually, so I think we can turn over from that. 5. This just shows you, the Rugby Club is hugely successful with 250 members aged five to 18, 50 adult members, 250 parents who identify that they are interested in the club, and 100 regular supporters, on top of the Hockey Club, Tennis Club, Football Club, Hornets, and the Cricket Club. Thank you. This just gives you a small picture of the quality of the cricket ground, and just shows that we are inextricably linked to communities. Thank you. 6. We also have five pubs, which, again, you need to be one side of the track or the other, and how are you going to move from one to the other. The oldest one is the Bear, which is the Bear and Ragged Staff, which is the coat of arms of the Duke of Warwick. Then there is the Brickmaker s Arms, which was built at a time when many of the houses were built with clay from the local soil; the White Horse; the Railway Inn, and what s the one I ve forgotten? What s that called? The White Horse, the Railways Inn, and the George in the Tree, thank you. Sorry everybody. 3

4 7. This really, I do hope, makes it clear to you how important the facility for getting from one side of the railway to the other, how important that is. One the one side, the Balsall Common side, the only services: the vets, the banks, the library, dentists, opticians, the Post Office, the doctors, the secondary school, also primary school, and access to Berkswell Station. All the other things on the other side of the line, those are not repeated anywhere in Balsall at all; none of those facilities are available in Berkswell at all. Even the Post Office was closed: you can get access to the Post Office in Balsall Common, so we ll close this one, and now the people in Berkswell have no Post Office accessible at all if they cannot get into Balsall. Then in Balsall Common we have the Lions, U3A, Preschool Toddlers, Women s Institute, British Legion, Parish Council, various keep fit classes, the Methodist Church, St Peter s Church, Temple Balsall, BRG Roman Catholic Church, and very importantly the funeral director, Harper Fields Car Home, Michael Blanning Care Facility, these two places are new and superb, and the Balsall and District Horticultural Society. If you live in Berkswell you are going to have great difficulty getting to them. Thank you. 8. Our community can only be saved by a tunnel; we cannot see any other way. After years of road closures our community will be lost; I am sure you understand that people very easily drift away and the whole organisation, which is usually run by volunteers anyway, will just dwindle away. We understand all villages up and down the line will suffer the devastation of the construction like us, but the community life here will be destroyed too. Please reconsider a tunnel for Berkswell and Balsall Common to save our community. Thank you. That s the end. 9. CHAIR: Thank you very much ladies for that presentation; I didn t realise it was such a busy community. Mr Mould? 10. MR MOULD QC (DfT): What I would like to do, if I may, is ask Mr Smart to come in and just talk the Committee through briefly the traffic and transport headline points during the construction of the railway, because I think that s what these petitioners have focused upon. While Mr Smart is taking his seat, can I just repeat the point that I made in introducing this petition that after construction is complete the vehicular and the pedestrian public route from one side of the railway line to the other will be essentially as they are today. The only change is that Park Lane will be slightly realigned, so that it joins Lavender Hall Lane to the west of the railway line rather than, 4

5 as it would, to the east. I think the ladies accept that, and I m not going to dwell on that unnecessarily, but that s the context in terms of the permanent position. With that thought in mind we need to come back to the construction phase, which is where their focus has been. 11. CHAIR: I think we would also like to know the report that was commissioned for a tunnel, which landed in my box at one point, where did that come about? Who commissioned it? 12. MR MOULD QC (DfT): The position on that is that back two or three years ago, after the route announcement was made in January 2012, we initiated, as you know, the Community Forum Area Consultation Round, which gave local communities along the route, including in this area, an opportunity to engage with the project as the design was being developed for the Bill. One of the issues that was raised through those meetings in this area was the case for tunnelling, both from Burton Green through Berkswell and Balsall Common, and linking the two. The culmination of that was that before the Bill was finalised a detailed assessment of the case for tunnels of varying lengths was carried out by the project, and it was reported to the Community Forum Area Meetings. You will see that process recorded in the CFA report, CFA23, which you are familiar with. 13. That was effectively during the middle of last year, before the Bill was placed before the House. Since that time, in response to petitions, the project has revisited that report in the light of points made by petitioners, because it wanted to be clear that the conclusions that it drew in that earlier exercise remained valid, or whether there was a case for change, as it were. It s that exercise which has now culminated in the production of a further tunnel report, which builds very much on the previous exercise, but just brings it up to date, and that s the document that was presented to the local authority during the week before last in Solihull, and then it was published at the beginning of last week. Indeed it was in part stimulated by Solihull as the local planning authority asking the project to review the case for tunnelling in this area, and so this report is a response to that. 14. CHAIR: Is it part of Solihull Borough Council s petition as well? 15. MR MOULD QC (DfT): Their petition asks for the review? 5

6 16. CHAIR: A review. 17. MR MOULD QC (DfT): But they don t actually ask for the tunnel, as I recall. 18. CHAIR: Alright, okay. 19. MR MOULD QC (DfT): You do have it in the papers in front of you; it is the P1227 series, and I will not take you to it now, but we might touch on it in a few minutes time. 20. CHAIR: Okay. Alright, thank you. 21. MR MOULD QC (DfT): Mr Smart, shall we just go back to traffic? I think you wanted to take the Committee to P1216, did you not? 22. MR SMART: Yes. 23. MR MOULD QC (DfT): Right, okay. 24. MR SMART: Good afternoon. 25. MR MOULD QC (DfT): Just to get our bearings, I don t know if the cursor can pick this up, to the west of the petitioners property we can see marked out with the green dashed line the A452, the Kenilworth Road. Yes? 26. MR SMART: Yes. 27. MR MOULD QC (DfT): If we follow that road southwards, we find that we get to a junction with Waste Lane. I think it is initially Old Waste Lane, and it becomes Waste Lane. If we follow the cursor along, if you can go back about an inch and a half, there s a junction there. That is a junction I think with Windmill Lane. 28. MR SMART: Yes. 29. MR MOULD QC (DfT): Then if you follow that road down southwards, we get to the junction of Hobbs Lane, don t we? 30. MR SMART: That s it. 31. MR MOULD QC (DfT): Yes. I think actually I misidentified the westerly section 6

7 of Waste Lane, it s called I think Kelsey Lane. 32. MR SMART: That s it. 33. MR MOULD QC (DfT): Kelsey, yes. If we then find us a way back to the A452 there we go if we go northwards and we stop there, that is the heart of Balsall Common itself, is it not? 34. MR SMART: Yes. 35. MR MOULD QC (DfT): If we turn right there we find ourselves on Station Road, and we carry on all the way and we get to that roundabout there, that s it, that is the Station Road roundabout, and if we carry on we are now at the station and there s an underbridge beneath the West Coast Mainline. Then we find ourselves going along Truggist Lane, you can see that marked. Then if we come back again to the centre of Balsall Common, that s it, carry on northwards along the A452, and we stop there, we find ourselves at the junction with Lavender Hall Lane. If we turn right, we go eastwards, and we get to the roundabout, which is the junction with Hall Meadow Road, carry on you go across the railway line, and then that takes you up directly to Berkswell itself. That s the position. 36. If we just return to just where Lavender Hall Lane is marked on the plan, just come back and you ll see that Park Lane, if you took a right there as you were coming westwards, you would turn into Park Lane, do you see that? Yes, and that road takes you just off plan, brings you round again onto the A452, and if you turn right there, go northwards, you get up presently to the A45, Mr Smart, that s correct is it not? 37. MR SMART: That s correct. 38. MR MOULD QC (DfT): I ve taken the trouble to just identify those elements of the road network to set the scene, so that you can then tell us what the plan is for construction traffic in this area. 39. MR SMART: Right. What we do with the heavy construction traffic that s doing the earth moving is to use the haul routes as best we can and confine the heavy construction through that haul route, but in terms of excavated material, we do have to meet the road network at a point in order to take material away for disposal, or, indeed, 7

8 import engineering fill. What you can see on this slide is that there are two points where we do that, which we call our roadheads, so we move material along the trace to a roadhead, and that is an area where we assess that it is the best place to take material, either import or export material, from our trace into the road network. 40. MR MOULD QC (DfT): The first of those is on Waste Lane, is it not? 41. MR SMART: The first of those is on Waste Lane, which you can see. 42. MR MOULD QC (DfT): That s the point there, yes. 43. MR SMART: Yes. The other is at the Park Lane site, which is our most major construction site in the area, which the cursor is on about now. The point of this is to allow the excavated material and imported material to come down from the north on the slide from the A45, down the A452 Kenilworth Road. As the traffic comes from the north it would peel off to the left into the Park Lane construction site. 44. MR MOULD QC (DfT): That s that yellow where it has been marked there. 45. MR SMART: That s that yellow construction compound there. 46. MR MOULD QC (DfT): Yes, sir, it is actually just off. In fact, there is a slide later on which shows Park Lane in a little bit more detail and you will be able to see how that does. Then the rest of the heavy traffic would come down the A452 Kenilworth Road, and then again left into Kelsey Lane, and then into Waste Lane, as the cursor is showing, and then into the construction site that you can see there, which is the Waste Lane. Just so we re clear, the compound that we see just where the arrow is pointing now, that is the compound whose principle purpose is to serve the construction of an overbridge at West Lane, is it not? 47. MR SMART: Yes, and work in that area generally, yes. 48. MR MOULD QC (DfT): If we then move north along the trace, we come to a further smaller compound, which is the Beechwood Farm compound, isn t it? 49. MR SMART: Yes. 50. MR MOULD QC (DfT): To provide for the construction of an underpass to serve 8

9 the farm? 51. MR SMART: Yes. 52. MR MOULD QC (DfT): If we move further north we get to the two north and south compounds for the Carol Green underbridge, and that is to provide principally for the construction to take the railway over the existing West Coast Mainline? 53. MR SMART: That s correct. 54. MR MOULD QC (DfT): Those are all served by Waste Lane? 55. MR SMART: Yes. The area to the north of that Carol Lane bridge; some of that will be served from the Park Lane, down the Hall Road, because of the hard spot that crossing the railway causes, but otherwise that is correct. That is one of the constraints on us for completely using the trace, because we have these block areas where we cannot get through. 56. MR MOULD QC (DfT): We have got traffic coming if we imagine a truck coming from the A45, travelling southwards along the A452, coming into the Balsall Common Area, that truck is either going to take a left into Park Lane. 57. MR SMART: Correct. 58. MR MOULD QC (DfT): Or it is going to carry on through Balsall Common on the A452 and take a left into Waste Lane. 59. MR SMART: Correct. 60. MR MOULD QC (DfT): Is that the position? 61. MR SMART: That is the position. 62. MR MOULD QC (DfT): Are any of those trucks intended to take a left into Station Road and then go down into the heart of the settlement through Station Road? 63. MR SMART: No. Indeed, there is a restriction, as you have already seen, at Truggist Lane under the railway. 9

10 64. CHAIR: Is that a restriction as to heavy goods vehicles, I mean excluding vans with construction workers in? 65. MR SMART: We are not using that for vans; it would actually vans, it s a low bridge, I think, Sir, you remember perhaps seeing it when you were out on the site visit, but we are not intending to use that. If anything, it would be utility work if there were some utilities there. 66. CHAIR: Okay. 67. MR MOULD QC (DfT): Right, so that gives a sense of the basic movement strategy, and can you give any sense of numbers? 68. MR SMART: Yes. The whole construction of this area is around about four years, and one of the reasons for that are the constraints on not closing the roads all at the same time, and we ll come back to the 12 month closure of Lavender Hall Lane, but that is one of the reasons. At the very peak of construction, and bearing in mind that off the slide to the south of Cromwell Lane is the cut and cover tunnel, Burton Green, then we would be looking at coming down the Kenilworth Road, down the central section, which is through the village, a peak of around about 187 HGVs. Now that does sound quite a lot, and I do understand the concerns that the petitioners have, but if I put that into perspective, the construction traffic accounts only for a 1.5% increase in the load on that road. However, of course, it does mean that there s more HGVs distribution than you would normally have, because there are not that many HGVs. That sort of level. 69. Then as we go up Waste Lane there is a split, because, as you have heard Ms O Sullivan mentioned, there is the issue of Hobbs Lane, but about 113 would continue down Waste Lane to the site at the other end in the peak. This is very much the peak figures that I am giving you, which we have done the assessment on. Then the remaining 74 would go down the short section of Windmill Lane and then into Hobbs Lane. 70. MR MOULD QC (DfT): That is the traffic that would, I think as the petitioners showed, pass by the school? 71. MR SMART: Yes. That s the section that would go pass the school, which the 10

11 petitioners showed on their slides, and that is going down to serve the Cromwell Lane construction site at the cut and cover tunnel. I think that we will come back to that issue in a couple of slides I think. 72. MR MOULD QC (DfT): Can we then go to the slides which deal with the three phases of construction; the first of those is P1219. I think we can orientate ourselves; we can see the A452, we can see Park Lane, we can see the petitioners properties, and we can see Lavender Hall Lane. The purpose of this slide is to show routes through from Balsall Common to Berkswell and back during this phase of the construction. I think what it shows is this, is it not, Mr Smart, there are two routes available to people living in Balsall Common and Berkswell, one is Lavender Hall Lane, and the second is Station Road, underneath the existing railway line, then up Truggist Lane, and then as one gets up to Seymour Lane, turn left along Seymour Lane and into Berkswell that way. 73. MR SMART: That s right. 74. MR MOULD QC (DfT): Are either of those routes going to be subject to any significant number of heavy traffic, heavy goods vehicles associated with the construction of the project? 75. MR SMART: On the diversionary route that goes the longer way round there may be a very minor number of HGVs, I think our estimate is a maximum of three per day in either direction; that is both directions, so three in total on any section, and we are not intending to have any construction vehicles on Lavender Hall Lane. 76. MR MOULD QC (DfT): Right. So that s the first phase, and then, as the petitioners point, if we go to the next slide P1210, as has been pointed out, Lavender Hall Lane is closed for a period during the construction of the railway to enable the Lavender Hall Lane bridge to be constructed. 77. MR SMART: Yes. The bridge is constructed offline. 78. MR MOULD QC (DfT): That s a period of closure of 12 months I think, isn t it? 79. MR SMART: Yes. 11

12 80. MR MOULD QC (DfT): So you can see on this phase, road closed it says at Lavender Hall Lane, and we can see two routes shown for access between the two settlements during this phase of construction. The first is a route down Hall Meadow road to the A452, and then a right hand turn along Park Lane, and then left onto Lavender Hall Lane beyond the point of closure, and into Berkswell that way. 81. MR SMART: Yes. 82. MR MOULD QC (DfT): Now, if one was to take that route, is there a chance that you might meet HS2 construction vehicles on Park Lane? 83. MR SMART: Yes. You would meet the HS2 construction vehicles entering the Park Lane site; the part of the green that you can see just where it says the A452, they would be coming in there, and then they would go down the purple section. Of the numbers we have given, on the first green section of that Park Lane diversion there would be more construction traffic. There would be some limited on the part that you have shown, where you can actually see the words Park Lane, but most of it would be going onto the purple, so there would be some construction traffic on that route. 84. If a resident did not want to use any diversionary route where there was potential to mix traffic with our construction traffic, then the route that we have previously identified, the other green route shown on this slide would be the route that one would take. That is for the period of 12 months where the Lavender Hall Lane is closed going over the railway, and that is because it is elevated, it is on an embankment, and it is due to the construction of the embankment that we have to let it settle and other issues around that as well. 85. MR MOULD QC (DfT): Just 86. SIR PETER BOTTOMLEY: We are talking about 1220 I think it is identical to 1243, which is in the bundle from the petitioners. Can everyone make sure we are talking about the same? 87. MR MOULD QC (DfT): You are right, I am going to check. 88. SIR PETER BOTTOMLEY: I didn t mean to interrupt, but it just seems to me that working from the promoter s numbers and from the petitioners numbers it is useful to 12

13 know we are talking about the same thing. 89. MR MOULD QC (DfT): Yes. I think, as you have obviously realised, we provided essentially the same set of slides for each of the ladies, so there s a duplication. If it is convenient I m working to these ones, yes. 90. SIR PETER BOTTOMLEY: Sorry to interrupt. 91. MR MOULD QC (DfT): Not at all. Yes. Mr Smart, as you have just made the point, if you are willing to share the road with heavy construction traffic 92. MR SMART: The shorter route. 93. MR MOULD QC (DfT): Sorry? 94. MR SMART: For the slightly shorter route perhaps. 95. MR MOULD QC (DfT): Yes. If you want to avoid any significant amount of heavy construction traffic then you take the slightly longer route, which takes you along Truggist Lane, along Seymour Lane. If you do take that route, there will be light construction vehicles along that route, won t there? 96. MR SMART: That s the three HGVs that I mentioned. 97. MR MOULD QC (DfT): Can we also just identify Bull Lane it is not marked I m afraid on the plan, which is a shame. 98. MR SMART: Where you see the yes, that s it. 99. MR MOULD QC (DfT): Where you see the box road ahead closed, yes, exactly. Is that going to be closed or affected particularly by the construction process? 100. MR SMART: No. There is no construction traffic on that and it is not closed. The reason that we have not shown that as the potential route through is that that is, as I think has been identified the petitioners, single track. It could potentially be used, yes MR MOULD QC (DfT): No. I take the point that it s not an ideal alternative route for that reason. Thank you. Now, if we go on to the next slide: P1221, which corresponds to P1244, this is the final phase of this little series of phased slides, and we 13

14 can see this reflects the position after the completion of construction of the Lavender Hall Lane bridge? 102. MR SMART: Yes. You can see that Park Lane is permanently diverted in the ream to the south of the HS2 line. That is it; and, of course, Lavender Hall Lane south is then a through route, so effectively you have got two ways. One of the reasons why the Park Lane is reinstated that way south of the railway is that there is a width restriction going underneath the existing Network Rail railway, which you can see there where it meets Hall Mill Road. Any wider vehicle that wanted to get onto the A452, Kenilworth Road, would go down the reinstated Park Lane to the south of the railway, rather than continuing to go down Lavender Hall Lane and Meadow Road MR MOULD QC (DfT): That, once the remaining work sites and other construction features have been decommissioned and removed, that effectively represents the final position, doesn t it? 104. MR SMART: That s correct MR MOULD QC (DfT): We can see that if we turn to P1222, which corresponds to P1245. The notation is not entirely easy to follow, but if we work from the right hand side; actually, what this shows is Lavender Hall Lane reinstated over a bridge, marginally realigned from its current alignment. The realigned Park Lane, which is to the west of the railway line if the cursor could just flip over the railway line there is the line of the realigned Park Lane. Truggist Lane is as you were, and then off plan to the west, Waste Lane is carried over an overbridge, which is a permanent feature, that is right? 106. MR SMART: That s right. The only change effectively to the way the roads are configured in the final case is actually referred to at the beginning, which is Park Lane realigned south of the railway MR MOULD QC (DfT): Right. Now, can we turn to P1226 please, which corresponds to P1249? We are just back to a summary of traffic impacts, and I just want you to help me if you can please with road closures? Can we start with Waste Lane, and if we can just get the cursor. We have got the dark orange Waste Lane construction site. Now, an access to that needs to be constructed to enable it to operate, 14

15 doesn t it? 108. MR SMART: Yes. That would be the first, if I could use the term, closure, is to create the access off Waste Lane into the Waste Lane overbridge construction compound, but, as I think the Committee have probably heard before, you have to tie the road in at surfacing level. This is a very short duration overnight activity just to tie in the levels and the surfacing, so that is not a closure for other than overnight MR MOULD QC (DfT): Then the other closure 110. MR SMART: I should imagine one night would be sufficient CHAIR: Okay MR SMART: It would be subject to detailed design, but it would be hard to see how it would be more than that I think MR MOULD QC (DfT): Then I think later on in the construction process, once the new Waste Lane bridge has been largely constructed offline with the existing route road still in operation, you need to tie the new Waste Lane overbridge into the existing road, don t you? 114. MR SMART: Indeed, and that s the same process, probably a little bit more involved than the actual construction site, because you ve got two sides to do it, but, again, it will be an overnight closure. Of course, all of these things would have to be agreed in terms of the local authority MR MOULD QC (DfT): To take a very precautionary approach, in the Environmental Statement an allowance of up to three months of traffic management measures, including some overnight closures, has been allowed for to accommodate those works, hasn t it? 116. MR SMART: That s correct; there will be some lead up ancillary work that would be done that might involve some lane restrictions, but those would be the two principle closures that would be required MR MOULD QC (DfT): Then if we can please go shooting up the trace, past the station, because there is nothing proposed there in terms of road closures, and we get to 15

16 Lavender Hall Lane. We have already explained that there is a 12 month closure there, and during that period will a diversion be in operation to enable traffic which would otherwise be passing across the existing West Coast Mainline via Lavender Hall Lane to divert locally from Lavender Hall Lane and Berkswell into Balsall Common and on to the A452? 118. MR SMART: Yes. That is the phasing that we have been through prior to this slide via Park Lane, etc MR MOULD QC (DfT): Right. Park Lane, we have explained, that section of Park Lane which is shown with the cursor there, that is realigned to the west side of the railway line on a permanent basis, you have explained that to the Committee MR SMART: Yes MR MOULD QC (DfT): Does that complete the closures or traffic management measure to existing local highways during the construction phase? 122. MR SMART: I believe in the ES we have identified some closures of Truggist Lane. As you have heard, that is not a construction route, but there will be utility works required there, and, because of the construction work there may have to be some intermittent restrictions to do piling and beam installation and form work. Again, these are of a minor nature, and these are not prolonged closures and will be an overnight. It depends on how the final construction phasing is done; if it was done at weekends it would be probably less closures than if we were to do it midweek, probably I think the ES identifies about 30 potential closures overnight if we were to do it midweek, but if we do it at weekends probably more like six. These closures and these whole diversions will, of course, be subject to the Code of Construction Practice, as you have heard before, and local traffic management plans, but approval by the local Highway Authority in terms of carrying them out MR MOULD QC (DfT): These are associated with getting the new railway physically over the existing and operational West Coast Mainline? 124. MR SMART: That is correct, yes MR MOULD QC (DfT): So you have to take possessions and operate at a time 16

17 that enables the existing railway to continue to function MR SMART: Yes MR MOULD QC (DfT): Right. Turning briefly to public rights of way, can we summarise the position: Kenilworth Greenway, as has been pointed out, during the construction of the railway the existing Kenilworth Greenway moving up from Burton Green and into this area is going to form part of the haul route, isn t it? 128. MR SMART: That is, yes, with alternative provision made for maintaining pedestrian access in lieu of the Greenway MR MOULD QC (DfT): There will be a temporary diversion route to allow for people who want to use the Greenway, and then following completion is the Greenway reinstated? 130. MR SMART: The Greenway is reinstated on completion of construction works and, indeed, extended through to the station. At the moment there is not quite a full Greenway through to the existing Berkswell Station, but we will extend that through MR MOULD QC (DfT): As regards other existing footpaths that are affected by the construction of the railway, is the project committed to providing temporary diversionary routes to those footpaths during the construction phase? 132. MR SMART: Yes, indeed MR MOULD QC (DfT): Thank you. Thank you, Mr Smart. Is there anything else you needed to say about traffic before we move on briefly to one or two other matters? 134. MS PHILP: May I just ask a question? 135. MR MOULD QC (DfT): By all means, yes MS PHILP: We were quoted right at the beginning, but I ve lost track of which road it was going to be, there would be a peak of 137 movements of heavy traffic? 137. MR MOULD QC (DfT):

18 138. MS PHILP: 137: is that a week, a month, a day, I don t know? 139. MR MOULD QC (DfT): It is MS PHILP: Well, even worse MR SMART: That is a daily figure, and that is the total two-way figures MS PHILP: In what period of time? 143. MR SMART: That is in a day CHAIR: Twenty four hours MS PHILP: In a day MR THORNTON: That is the peak? 147. MR SMART: That is the peak SIR PETER BOTTOMLEY: Well, one starts in the wrong place, which is a doubled figure 187 by going down back to you? 149. MR MOULD QC (DfT): By peak, sorry, I do not mean the peak hour, but during the peak of the construction SIR PETER BOTTOMLEY: I see MR MOULD QC (DfT): Yes MS PHILP: That is a huge number, isn t it? 153. MR THORNTON: Which would be for how long? 154. MR SMART: Depending on the phasing of the works, but it is about 18 months MR THORNTON: Eighteen months CHAIR: Would you like to ask questions to Mr Smart first before we come back to Mr Mould on the other issues is that alright Mr Mould? 157. MR MOULD QC (DfT): If that s convenient I am sure Mr Smart can do that. 18

19 158. CHAIR: Okay MS PHILP: Another question was: is this construction going to take place at one place and then that s more or less stable, and then another, or are all these going to happen simultaneously? That is a very important part of it, isn t it? 160. MR SMART: Well, yes. The closures won t happen simultaneously, of course, because that is one of the reasons why Waste Lane we cannot close, but this is quite a major part of construction along here, and therefore the construction along that whole section of the trace takes about four years. Our way of mitigating traffic on the road is to use a haul road, along effectively the Greenway and other areas, as best we can. We will maximise the use of that, but, as I explained earlier in my evidence, we do have to take material onto the national road network at certain points, and that is the purpose of Park Lane and Waste Lane railheads MS PHILP: Right, Mr Smart, thank you CHAIR: It is phasing. You have got a stretch of railway: are you going to do a bit and a bit and a bit as it is built up, or are you going to do the whole lot in one go? 163. MR SMART: It won t all happen at once, but along that section of the railway there will be work happening to various parts of it, because clearly we have got quite a lot of construction to happen. The point is that how we manage construction traffic within that area is going to have to be agreed with the local authorities, as we have already said, subject to the local arrangements with the contractor s plans CHAIR: The local authority MR SMART: Obviously the local authority, yes. We will seek to make sure that we maximise the haul road, and minimise what we have put on to the local road network. What we have articulated in the ES is our view of the worst time the figures that I have given are the peak CHAIR: Okay. Ms Philp? 167. MS PHILP: In actual fact the alternatives that have been listed that we can use are not necessarily going to be accessible or available, are they? 19

20 168. MR SMART: No, they will; they will, subject to the small overnight closures that we went through at Waste Lane, Truggist Lane; well, the 12 months at Lavender Hall, but I think have explained the alternative route. There will be access across the railway all the time subject to those odd closures for the tie-in that I think I have explained MR MOULD QC (DfT): The longest period of closure for any of them is the 12 months on Lavender Hall Lane, isn t it? 170. MR SMART: That s correct, but there s the alternative route for that period CHAIR: Any questions, Mrs O Sullivan? 172. MS O SULLIVAN: I d just like to make one point, and this is quite a personal thing to say in front of you all, but I have to say it. When you say back to normal when it s done, I m 62 years old. This is taking up the rest of my life. This is taking the value of my property. It s no good talking about back to normal for us. We haven t got the earning power now we re retired to get out of this. We re just going to have to live with it. It s terrible. You re saying that you don t use Truggist Lane for HGV traffic, but I have been told that you re using the station car park to store traffic. We won t have anywhere to park because you ll be running traffic up and down Hall Meadow Road and also using the station car park CHAIR: Could you then answer that point, please? 174. MR SMART: Yes. As part of the haul road, which is the Kenilworth Green Way, there will be some access through the station car park to make that connection, but it s not the heavy part of the route. We will not be restricting the use of the station in a major way. That is really servicing the compounds you can see around 175. CHAIR: Is that vehicles that go in and come out, rather than park and take up parking spaces? 176. MR SMART: Yes, that s right. 20

21 177. CHAIR: Okay. Mrs O Sullivan? 178. MS O SULLIVAN: Thank you. Are you going to talk about Windmill/Hob Lane a bit more later on? 179. MR SMART: Will we 180. MR MOULD QC (DfT): The schools, you re talking about? 181. MR SMART: Yes MS O SULLIVAN: Yes MR MOULD QC (DfT): Do you want to say something about that, Mr Smart? 184. MR SMART: Yes, I will MR MOULD QC (DfT): You were going to mention the Code of Construction Practice, I think MR SMART: Yes. If we could bring up P1216 again, we previously highlighted Windmill Lane, which is here, if the cursor can move there, and construction traffic will go down Windmill Lane and then down to Hob Lane, which is here. That is the access route to the Cromwell Lane construction site, which is near the Burton Green cut-andcover tunnel. In the peak, that could have 74 total HGVs, and we do understand the loss of amenity for the school in that area. I completely acknowledge the point made by Mrs O Sullivan around the school. Now, there are two ways of dealing with that. If you read the Code of Construction Practice section 14, and indeed it s in the CFA for the other area, CFA 18, one way is to not allow construction vehicles to use Hob Lane during the times that the school is used for drop off and pick up CHAIR: And pick up, yes MR SMART: That isn t the most satisfactory answer, from our own point of 21

22 view, if anything, from construction, so we are looking at whether there is another way that we could achieve access. I can t give a categoric answer at the moment as to what that might be, but we are looking at whether there is a way we can perhaps form another haul road to overcome that problem. The fallback would be, of course, to not have traffic there during the school times when the pick-up and drop-off is happening CHAIR: Okay. Mrs O Sullivan? 190. MS O SULLIVAN: You ve said, during your talk just now, that there were only going to be three vehicles a day going to the viaduct? 191. MS PHILP: Along Spencer s Lane MS O SULLIVAN: How can you only have three vehicles a day where you re building the biggest viaduct down the whole of the track? 193. MR SMART: Because we use the haul road. The three vehicles were going the long way round to Truggist Lane to get into the compounds that you can see on the north-east side of the railway, so this comes back to the point of maximising the use of the haul road for heavy construction. But there will be some limited road-going vehicles that would have to access those compounds, and that is the average of three that would be on that diversionary route that we highlighted earlier MS O SULLIVAN: Okay. I think I missed something that one of you said. I m so sorry. You said that we could use at some stage Park Lane to get to Berkswell MS PHILP: Yes, you did MS O SULLIVAN: But you ve told us Park Lane is closed for five years. Has that been amended? 197. MR SMART: Park Lane shall we go back to one of the Park Lane slides? Park Lane is closed permanently on the north side of the railway but realigned to the south of the railway, which can you see in the grey area. That becomes the permanent alignment 22

23 of Park Lane MS O SULLIVAN: So, when is that open? 199. MR SMART: That opens after the 12-month closure of Lavender Hall Lane MS O SULLIVAN: That s not in any documentation that I ve seen at all MS PHILP: No MR SMART: Right. I thought it was and we can check the reference that it was, but I assure you that is the case. As I pointed out earlier, the diversionary route is via Park Lane for properties that are at the south of the slide, or there is, as we ve already highlighted, the potential for some conflict or meeting of construction vehicles, so the other route is the green route MS O SULLIVAN: Okay, one final thing: you mentioned that you wouldn t be using Baulk Lane for construction traffic. I completely understand that. It s because it s only one car width, and that s why hardly anybody uses it. So, that s not going to be a way round for us, because you can t get two cars down there MR SMART: No, I do understand that, and that s why the diversion 205. MS O SULLIVAN: So, that s not an opportunity for us MR SMART: Okay. I appreciate that, and that is why we have shown the diversionary route in green going the longer way. We acknowledge the fact that there is a limitation on the single-track road on Baulk Lane MS O SULLIVAN: Okay, but you do appreciate that with so few roads, with HGVs out there, with all those people moving all those children and going to work in the mornings, it s going to be absolutely horrendous. Thanks MR MOULD QC (DfT): I would 23

24 209. CHAIR: Shall we come back to you, Mr Mould? Do you want to 210. MR MOULD QC (DfT): Yes sorry. I was going to say, because there is uncertainty about the position with regard to Park Lane, can I just read on to the record I won t read it out, but I ll give the reference paragraph in Community Forum Area Report 23, which is the report that relates to Balsall Common and Hampton in Arden? That sets out the road closures that are proposed during the construction of the railway in this area, and there s no suggestion there that Park Lane will be closed. There is a reference to the closure of Lavender Hall Lane, and then in a later paragraph, paragraph , there s a reference to alternative routes. That is a reference to Park Lane as an alternative. I just thought I ought to make that clear on the record so that later petitioners hear that. Can I take one or two other points? 211. CHAIR: Yes, do MR MOULD QC (DfT): Mr Smart, I just want to bring this back to the context of the case for the tunnel. For that purpose, we might just put up P1227(4), which corresponds to P1250(4). We can see the executive summary of the up-to-date tunnel report to get our bearings, and if you just go to the next page, the third full paragraph, which reads as follows: However, tunnel options are more complex than the surface route and the need for tunnelling equipment would increase the time to establish construction compounds. The tunnel options are likely to result in increased greenhouse gas emissions and energy during construction and operation. In addition, there would be a substantial increase in heavy goods movements on the highway network during the peak period. Combined with increased construction activity in the vicinity of portal locations and intervention shaft(s), where these are required, this could reduce tranquillity and air quality and result in an increase in noise, vibration, visual and amenity impacts on residential properties and users of the Public Rights of Way and highway network close to these works. I won t read on. Mr Smart, just help me with this. If one contemplates the construction of a tunnel, or any of the four main options that are considered in this report, which are broadly speaking different lengths of tunnel through this area, is that likely to ameliorate to any significant degree the impact of construction of the railway as it affects local roads? 24

25 213. MR SMART: No, actually the opposite. The problem with the tunnel options is you have a lot more earth to move, excavated material, and therefore the impact on the roads and I completely understand the Petitioner s concerns about that is a lot more severe, because we have to get the material away MR MOULD QC (DfT): Thank you. The other question I wanted to ask you was just to comment on the visual One was to comment on the visual material that the Petitioners have put in, and if we just, I think, go to 4066, I think it is 215. MR SMART: Yes MR MOULD QC (DfT): Now, this is a photomontage, as I understand it, standing at the Station Road roundabout, looking towards the station itself and looking towards the underpass beneath the West Coast Main Line, which leads you out into Truggist Lane, yes? 217. MR SMART: Yes MR MOULD QC (DfT): And can we just, while we have that image in mind, look at an overheard computer-generated image, which is to be found in the Community Forum Area 23 report map book? For the record, this is LV15OA7. If the cursor could just find the roundabout and go to the left that s the roundabout, and we were looking in an easterly direction along Station Road towards the existing station, Berkswell station, and the West Coast Main Line. Do you see that? 219. MS O SULLIVAN: Mm-hmm MR MOULD QC (DfT): And then you can see beyond that, about equidistant the other way, is the HS2 railway. Do you see? 221. MS O SULLIVAN: Yes MR MOULD QC (DfT): On the Balsall Common viaduct, at about what 14 25

26 metres, including the height of the train above ground? Yes. So, that s a sense of the distances, and if we can then go back to the Petitioner s image, A4066, are we getting a proper sense of perspective here? 223. MR SMART: Well, I don t think so. I mean, clearly Mrs O Sullivan said that was the 300-metre line, and it is from our railway, I should think, but it s actually only about 150 metres from the existing Birmingham-Derby railway. Now, if you look, you can see just virtually underneath the train there are some lighting stanchions, and they are about 12.5 metres high. For our track, the distance height to track bed is about 10 metres, and the train on top of that is about 4.7 metres, so say 15 metres. So, the sense of perspective you get there is that actually the train would be at half the height, and as I think the previous slide showed, it was the other side of the existing railway. So, it would be about the half the height shown and be down the other side of those trees SIR PETER BOTTOMLEY: Can I make a suggestion? If you look beneath the driver s cabin, you drop down to some lamp standards beyond the existing railway. It s more that sort of height, isn t it? 225. MR SMART: It is. That s the 12.5 metres, Sir Peter, I was referring to and the track bed is at 10, and then we go on five metres SIR PETER BOTTOMLEY: The further lamp stands. Not the brown ones this side of the Derby line, but the ones on the far side MR SMART: Yes. So, say the track came just below those further lamp standards, with a train above that, so it s roughly about half the height that s shown on here, but it s in the distance MS O SULLIVAN: I was literally taking word for word what the gentleman said the day we were standing on we all walked over a bridge that goes over the track, and we were all standing there, and there was a gentleman there that day who said, Yes, it will be higher than those trees. That s what was said to us that day MR THORNTON: It must have been further back. 26

27 230. MR SMART: It would have been further back. That s the point MR THORNTON: So, it will behind the trees, rather than in front of them MR SMART: Yes MS O SULLIVAN: No. He said above MR SMART: It s sort of in the trees. Perhaps the best way of putting it is it s just above the height of the stanchions that Sir Peter referred to that sort of level along there. Yes MR THORNTON: The trouble is that s in 2D, isn t it? It s quite difficult to get it 236. MR SMART: It s a bit simple, but that s really the sort of perspective 237. MR MEARNS: So, really, the height s just a little bit too high, and the perspective brings it too much into the foreground MR SMART: Correct CHAIR: But they ll still notice it MR SMART: You will see it CHAIR: Right. Mr Mould MR MOULD QC (DfT): While we re on visuals, can we just turn to A4068? I think this is an image from Mrs O Sullivan s garden MS O SULLIVAN: Correct. 27

28 244. MR MOULD QC (DfT): Yes it s number 11. You can see the height of the fences. Those look like what four- or five-foot high fences, just above the date, is that right? 245. MS O SULLIVAN: Correct MR MOULD QC (DfT): So, one s looking from a fairly elevated viewpoint, I think, here. Mr Smart, again, do you think that s a reliable image? We re looking 500 metres towards the railway line MR SMART: Yes. I think we ve got the same issue of the exaggeration of it, so, no, I don t think it is, actually. We haven t got one of that perspective, but I don t think that can be taken as reliable MR MOULD QC (DfT): We do have 249. MS O SULLIVAN: But doesn t it have to go above the gantries? Because that s where it crosses MR SMART: Yes, clearly. Because of the distance, however, it s not that view MR MOULD QC (DfT): What I was going to say was one of the viewpoints that we have examined in the environmental statement is from a position which is a little further to the south of Beverly Close on the A452 Kenilworth Road. It is a public viewpoint, and although it s a little further away from the railway line than the Petitioners are I d say probably about another 100 metres back if the Committee would find it helpful to have an image from that point to compare, I d be very happy to ask for that be prepared CHAIR: I think we accept the general point that the Petitioners might well show it slightly larger and you think it s slightly smaller, but they re still going to see it and probably hear it, so I think we just need to move on MR MOULD QC (DfT): Okay, fine. Well, with the thought of hearing it, which 28

29 was my final question for you, Mr Smart, there was a reference to sonic boom earlier. I don t think I need to trouble you with that, but there is a phenomenon, isn t there, which you wanted to tell the Committee about? 254. MR SMART: I think the Petitioner s referring to the Rayleigh wave, which is a bit like the high-speed train equivalent of breaking the sound barrier. On certain soft grounds, the surface waves can be slower and the train catches up the wave. There is no sound from that point. What it does do is cause deformation of the track, particularly the soil. So, we certainly wouldn t want that to happen, because we would not have the geometry that we require, and of course that s all about the stiffness of the track bed. So, our design would make sure that the stiffness of the track bed was such that you would not be able to have this effect of a Rayleigh wave. But, as I say, it wouldn t manifest as a sonic boom; it would actually manifest itself as a degradation of the subgrade of the track MR MOULD QC (DfT): Thank you. I have no further questions. For the record, can I just say that we have usual sequence of slides dealing with the noise predictions for these properties, and the table that you re familiar with is at P1214. That s all I want to ask, thank you CHAIR: Do you want to just pick a few of the latter points, ladies, at all? 257. MS O SULLIVAN: The only point is the sound, and as a layman I really can t pass comment, other than seeing some of those documents that said it was like a sonic boom. I sit in my office downstairs with the door closed, and I can hear the existing trains, so why won t I hear HS2? The document that Mr Mould has just passed comment on, which is the Beverley Close sound readings 258. CHAIR: Can I pick up one point? The Petitioners made a point about Moat House Farm, being the other side of the track, being farther away, but the sound readings tend to be somewhat different from the Petitioners MR MOULD QC (DfT): I think it s a visual point. I think the comparison with Moat House Farm was that Moat House Farm is identified as being significantly 29