IN PARLIAMENT HOUSE OF COMMONS SESSION 2005-06 CROSSRAIL BILL PETITION Against the Bill - On Merits - Praying to be heard by Counsel, &c. TO THE HONOURABLE THE COMMONS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND IN PARLIAMENT ASSEMBLED THE HUMBLE PETITION of: THAMES WATER UTILITIES LIMITED SHEWETH as follows:— 1 A Bill (hereinafter referred to as "the Bill") has been introduced into and is now pending in your Honourable House intituled "A Bill to make provision for a railway transport system running from Maidenhead, in the County of Berkshire, and Heathrow Airport, in the London Borough of Hillingdon, through central London to Shenfield, in the County of Essex, and Abbey Wood, in the London Borough of Greenwich; and for connected purposes.". 2 The Bill is promoted by the Secretary of State for Transport (hereinafter called "the Promoter"). Relevant clauses of the Bill 3 Clauses 1 to 20 of the Bill together with Schedules 1 to 9 make provision for the construction and maintenance of the proposed works including the main works set out in Schedule 1. Provision is included to confer powers for various building and engineering operations, for compulsory acquisition and the temporary use of and entry upon land, for the grant of planning permission and other consents, for the disapplication or modification of heritage and other controls and to govern interference with trees and the regulation of noise. Clauses 21 to 44 of the Bill together with Schedule 10 make provision for the application with modifications and the disapplication in part of the existing railways regulatory regime which is contained in and in arrangements made under the Railways Act 1993 and associated legislation. In particular, they provide for the disapplication of licensing requirements, the imposition of special duties on the Office of Rail Regulation ("ORR"), the modification of railway access contract and franchising arrangements and the disapplication of railway closure requirements and of the need for consent from Transport for London in relation to impacts on key system assets. Provision is also included to enable agreements to be required as between the nominated undertaker and controllers of railway assets, to govern the basis for arbitration and to provide for the transfer of statutory powers in relation to railway assets. Clauses 45 to 59 of the Bill together with Schedules 11 to 14 contain miscellaneous and general provisions. These include provision for the making of transfer schemes, the designation of nominated undertakers, the devolution of functions and as respects other actions to be taken by the Secretary of State. Provision is also made in particular for the disapplication or modification of various additional miscellaneous controls, for the treatment of burial grounds, for the application of provisions of the Bill to future extensions of Crossrail, for the particular protection of certain specified interests (including your Petitioners) and as respects arbitration. Your Petitioners and their properties Your Petitioners are Thames Water Utilities Limited, a limited company registered under the Companies Act 1985. Your Petitioners have been appointed by an Instrument of Appointment by the Secretary of State for the Environment as 3308816.08 the water undertaker and the sewerage undertaker under section 6 of the Water Industry Act 1991 for the area in which it is intended many of the works shall be carried out. As water and sewerage undertakers, your Petitioners have a general duty imposed by sections 37 and 94 of the said Act of 1991 to provide water and sewerage services together with other obligations imposed on water and sewerage undertakers by that Act and other legislation. Your Petitioners provide water services to over 8 million people and sewerage services to over 13 million people in and across London and the Thames Valley within their statutory areas as shown on the Water Supply Area Map and the Sewerage Services Area Map (each defined in and forming part of the Instrument of Appointment). Your Petitioners own or have an interest in the sewer and water apparatus laid within their statutory area ("Apparatus") for the purposes of carrying out their statutory duties. In addition to the Apparatus which will be affected by the works, your Petitioners own or have an interest in the following properties ("Properties") which are subject to compulsory acquisition or use under the Bill (the parcel numbers referred to below are as shown on the deposited plans for the Bill and described in the Book of Reference): In the London Borough of Greenwich (a) Penstock House (referred to in the Book of Reference as a "Pumping station"), land and premises at the Old Coal Yard near Plumstead High Street, in connection to the Southern Outfall Sewer (parcels 84, 85, 86, 88, 91, 92, 93 and 122) ("Plumstead Portal Grounds"); In the London Borough ofNewham (b) Pumping Station, land and premises at Store Road in North Woolwich (parcels 261, 267, 268, 271, 275), connected to the Royal Docks Mainline and Albert Road Sewer ("North Woolwich Grounds"); 3308816.08 (c) Land, hardstanding and electricity pylon at Abbey Mills Pumping Station (parcels 543, 560 and 562), connected to the Abbey Mills Sewer and Wick Lane Sewer ("Abbey Mills Grounds"); and (d) Land around Pudding Mill Lane, road, bridge, footway, river bed and viaduct connected with the Northern Outfall Sewer (parcels 348, 349, 354, 361, 385, 577, 580, 588, 591, 593, 594, 600, 611, 615 and 617) ("Pudding Mill Grounds"). Your Petitioners' concerns 8 Your Petitioners support the expansion of railway capacity in London, but they have substantial concerns that the powers conferred on the Promoters will enable the Promoter to interfere with and compromise the use of the Apparatus and the Properties in the vicinity of the proposed works without adequate protective provisions provided for in the Bill. 9 Your Petitioners believe that the inadequate protective provisions will adversely affect your Petitioners' ability to carry out their statutory duties and question whether the impact of the Bill's proposal on the water and sewerage services has been fully thought through or adequately catered for. 10 Your Petitioners also have a fundamental concern that, despite its adoption as a Government led project, Crossrail lacks appropriate levels of funding and that this under-resourcing prejudices your Petitioners and other property owners' interests. 11 In the ordinary course, your Petitioners understand that a project of this sort would now be subject to much more detailed design work than it appears has been undertaken. In consequence, the impacts upon your Petitioners' property interests are still ill-defined and your Petitioners are handicapped in their ability to engage with the Promoter in a positive fashion to safeguard their interests. 12 For these reasons, and having regard to the more detailed particulars referred to below, your Petitioners object to the Bill and they allege and are prepared to prove 3308816.08 that they and their property, rights and interests are injuriously and prejudicially affected by the Bill for the reasons (amongst others) hereinafter appearing. Land acquisition 13 . Your Petitioners object to the provisions of Clause 6 of the Bill, which they apprehend could adversely affect and interfere with some of the Properties. Under these provisions, and those in Clause 7, the Promoter would be able to acquire compulsorily any one or all of those Properties as set out in paragraph 7 above as are within the limits of deviation, or at least so much of the subsoil and undersurface thereof or such new rights therein, under or over as they may require for the purposes of the construction and use of the proposed works. In respect of these Properties your Petitioners question the need for such extensive powers and they are not convinced of the need for the proposed powers and seek clarification from the Promoter of the extent to which this power will be exercised and for what specific purposes. Your Petitioners have the following concerns in particular. 14 Your Petitioners fear that the exercise of the clause 6(1) powers over their Properties could (by tunnelling, other construction works such as station works and the running of trains) lead to damage to the Properties due to settlement or subsidence and thereby jeopardise the safe, efficient and effective running of its water and sewerage services. Your Petitioners seek assurances that any exercise of the clause 6(1) powers over the Properties is subject to the approval of your Petitioners and any conditions it considers are required to ensure the security of its operations. In particular, there are concerns relating to the Penstock House (referred to as a pumping station in the Book of Reference) at the Plumstead Portal Grounds, the pumping station at the North Woolwich Grounds, and the Northern Outfall Sewer at the Pudding Mill Grounds. It is essential that the Penstock House is operational at all times, in particular whenever the Thames Barrier is in operation, to prevent flooding. Your Petitioners fear that Works 2/2 and 2/3, which include bridges over the Northern Outfall Sewer, may compromise the integrity of the Northern Outfall Sewer. Your Petitioners require the Promoter to submit plans and detailed proposals of the works affecting the Penstock House, the pumping station at the Pudding Mill Grounds, and the Northern Outfall Sewer, for your Petitioners' reasonable approval. 15 Your Petitioners are concerned that the proposed limits of lateral and vertical deviation in Clause 1 of the Bill would permit the route for the proposed works to be varied so as to bring the works closer to (either vertically or horizontally) the Apparatus or the Properties. The provisions of Clause 1 of the Bill could therefore well result, your Petitioners apprehend, in an inadequate vertical or horizontal distance between the tunnels forming part of the proposed works and the Apparatus or the Properties, causing possible permanent damage to the water and sewerage network.