Clause 33
Crossrail Bill
10:45 am
Susan Kramer (Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, Transport; Richmond Park, Liberal Democrat)
I want to make some brief remarks. To someone sitting outside this room, our previous discussion would have sounded as though it was taking place at cross-purposes. My interpretation of the language is rather closer to the Minister’s than that of the hon. Member for Wimbledon, who sits on the Conservative Front Bench. However, the issue that has not been raised and which is relevant to the clause is the implications for freight and for freight rail access along routes it currently uses after Crossrail has come into play.
As I said earlier, the implications for London are extremely serious. London has no aggregate resources within its own boundaries and the only mechanism for bringing aggregate into London is freight rail. Those pathways need to be protected in some way. While there may be compensation for the freight rail provider, there is no mechanism for dealing with the problem that Londoners will face without the ability to bring in bulk product for a variety of purposes. The Minister should address that issue.