Prime Minister spikes Crossrail

Whilst we don't really do the Parliamentary stuff when it comes to Crossrail it's difficult not too. Crossrail, as everyone probably knows, is a project that's been talked about for over a decade and every now and then the Council reminds us how much closer it is getting.

The Evening Standard has been running a campaign to get Gordon Brown - when he was Chancellor - to sign off the cash for it. It never happened. Now he's Prime Minister it is Alistair Darling's problem, assuming all the talk of 'control-freakery' by Brown is wrong.

Yesterday, Gordon Brown announced what his legislative programme would be in the next Parliament, and it included the Crossrail Bill. This might sound promising but it is not a bill about funding, but merely the bill that will confer legal status on the project.

What does this mean for the decision about funding? It means it's been kicked into the long grass and spiked. Until the Crossrail Bill passes there is no need to worry about making the necessary funding decisions required to plug the well-documented shortfalls across the project.

If the Olympic budget continues to spiral out of control then the pressure to spike it further will become greater too. And we can't forget about the fact the Bill - and the Select Committee over-seeing it - is bogged down in legal hyperbole. Basically don't expect a decision any time soon.

Woolwich Crossrail overspend to be paid for by local business tax

Readers may have noticed the news that Woolwich is going to get its Crossrail Station. We were first alerted to this news on Wednesday but wanted to take a moment to digest it fully. We're afraid to say that unlike the fanfare from the Council and the local MP we are less than impressed.

When we first started posting about Crossrail we noted the feasibility study carried out by the operator that put forward the argument that there was a half billion pound (£504m) shortfall in building the station. When the Government initially rejected the station it said that this was due to it costing £270m. Yesterday, this figure was almost halved again to £160m and Woolwich suddenly gets a Crossrail station.

How have they managed a reader might wonder. How has the cost of a station dropped so much, and so rapidly, against the rate of inflation? Well it hasn't. The deal has been simply to change the budget and hope for the best. We guarantee when, and if, the station is ever delivered it will cost at least the original budget rather than the deliberately reduced one, and it will be local businesses in Woolwich that will be paying for it through a new business tax which is on its way.

Why would a small business want to operate in Woolwich when it's going to have to pay extra taxes to cover the overspend that the Council have so cynically tried to mask with budget manipulation?

Cause and Effect

14th October - Secretary of State for Transport, Douglas Alexander says "NO" to Crossrail in Woolwich on cost grounds.

2nd November - Secretary of State for Transport, Douglas Alexander says he'll "rethink" Woolwich Crossrail.

7th November - Leader of Greenwich Council, Chris Roberts announces that Greenwich wants to be guinea pig in Douglas Alexander's congestion charging project.

To be confirmed - Woolwich Crossrail back on the route with funding provided by congestion charging revenue in Greenwich?

Crossrail for Woolwich canned

We felt we ought to pass comment on this although we admit we've again been a little slack recently. As many will remeber, back in July there was quite a bit of fanfare by the Council about it's alleged success at the Crossrail Select Committee.

Back then we pointed out that there remained a massive shortfall in funding for a station at Woolwich and were concerned about who was going to foot the bill. It appears that the Government have decided that it definitely won't be them as they've canned the proposal on cost gorunds. However, the Council says it will fight on.

The Council leader Chris Roberts says that the "financial case for Woolwich has been made on several occasions" which is certainly true, the case has been made on several occassions and on several occassions it has now been shown to be a poor case. If the Council collected arrears more effectively, and spent it money a little more wisely perhaps it might have been able to win that argument?

Crossrail coming to Woolwich?

Initial reports from parlaiment appear to suggest that Crossrail is coming to Woolwich. In the report from the Crossrail Select Committee today they have stated that they were "clearly convinced of the essential need for a Crossrail station at Woolwich" and that they would be asking the promoters to work with Greenwich Council to integrate a station into the trapsort infrastructure.

Bizarrely the report appears to contradict the feasibility study Crossrail commissioned and says the promoter's "calculations of cost of this station showed it would provide exceptional value for money". The feasibility study in comparison was very clear that Crossrail felt a station in Woolwich would not be commerically viable - according to Crossrail there will be a £504m shortfall which the local public sector will have to subsidise.

The Council has also commented on this today, and from what we've learned they probably knew yesterday as the Communications Unit sent out an email saying there would be a photo opportunity today with the leader Chris Roberts, and the local MP Nick Raynsford to "celebrate good news".

Crossrail update

Well it's been a month since Greenwich Council's petition for a Crossrail station at Woolwich was submitted to the Crossrail Select Committee, and we did say we would try to keep you updated with preceedings.

There appears to have been a number of ammendments made to the bill from the last round of petitions but there is no mention of the Woolwich station in them. However, some parts of the Council's petition relating to Plumstead and the White Hart Road area have got in.

The Council is currently promoting a video it's made with Nick Raynsford MP and local people as part of their campaign, however, we presume much of the campaign must be back door lobbying as Raynsford hasn't spoken about CrossRail in the Commons for some time.

The Select Committee petition process continues and the final date for depositing petitions to the Amended Crossrail Bill is 13th June.

Woolwich waits with baited breath.

Crossrail at the Commons

A quick look on the Council website and it's obvious that the issue of the day is Crossrail - 17 years in the talking, another 10 years in the making (probably).

The reason it's taking such prominence is because the Council's petition is included in the current committee stage of the Crossrail Bill at Westminster (scheduled for the 9-11 May). Today we've read that petition and we're now eagerly awaiting the publication of the Committee's proceedings. We'll be scouring the transcripts when we get them as we're sure many of the objections the petition raises are bargaining chips in the "Crossrail for Woolwich" campaign.

The campaign does have it's work cut out though as Crossrail have produced a feasibility study which essentially concluded that it was not commercially viable - in other words, if it happens the shortfall will likely come from the taxpayer.