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Crossrail Bill

I agree. I find that not just surprising but astonishing. If there is one message to be conveyed from our side of the debate, it is that the Minister should reconsider that aspect. The North Pole site would clearly be appropriate and would avoid much disruption in my constituency and elsewhere. The most infuriating example of what I am describing is the fact that a site with only a handful of houses nearby uses ““proximity to dwellings”” as an adverse effect, while there has been no mention of that in the selection of Romford, although hundreds of homes will be affected. The depot at North Pole, just west of Paddington and on the proposed Crossrail route to Heathrow, is currently used by Eurostar, as my hon. Friend said. That new, modern depot, built to maintain the most modern trains, will be vacated in 2007 when Eurostar switches its maintenance to a new depot being built at Temple Mills with £400 million of taxpayers’ money. If Crossrail used North Pole, it would probably save the taxpayer the £430 million construction costs of the Romford depot, and save my constituents in Romford from massive and unnecessary disruption. Crossrail has not been able to give a convincing reason for its inability to use the North Pole site.