Crossrail

9.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 2nd Mar 2006

At last night's Full Council meeting the Liberal Democrat Councillors called for the Council to reject Crossrail's plans for tunnelling and intervention shafts in the borough.

Lib Dem Councillor Louise Alexander submitted a motion to the Full Council meeting calling for the Council to categorically reject any Crossrail intervention shaft in the Brick Lane area, plans for an additional tunnel surfacing in Allen Gardens and the associated problems of removal of spoil from these site.

Cllr Alexander said, "Lib Dems support the Crossrail project and the benefits it will bring to Londoners but we have always campaigned against the tunnelling strategy and the positioning of the various shafts. The Council has submitted a petition to Parliament which is a move in the right direction, but does not go far enough. Were the Select Committee to accept Tower Hamlets' petition in full, we would have an intervention shaft in the particularly narrow Woodseer Street. Residents would still experience huge disruption with digging and lorries trundling through the highly residential Brick Lane area past 3 schools. None of these streets could cope with lorries to this extent. The route goes through Greatorex Street, Hanbury Street, Spital Street, Buxton Street and Vallance Road, but Labour Councillors deliberately shut their ears to this and refuted my facts."

"With this motion I hoped that all the Councillors would work together to show our opposition to the digging of any kind of hole in Brick Lane. This motion recognised how strongly the community feels about this and would have pledged us, as their elected representatives, to follow this through on their behalf."

Much to the dismay of the Lib Dem members, scant debate was allowed before the ruling Labour Group amended the motion. At one point the Labour Group tried to force the issue through without any debate but relented due to the jeering and heckling from the public gallery.

Cllr Akikur Rahman, Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group said, "When I got up to speak in the Chamber the Labour Group members were laughing and joking about this issue, even the Councillors for the affected Wards. I am deeply shocked that these Labour councillors don't take seriously what is a very serious and upsetting issue for their constituents. They are playing games with people's lives."

Cllr Janet Ludlow, Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group said, "The Lib Dems have been working with local groups since 2004 on this issue. The Labour Group claim to have been 'consistent' on this issue. Consistently rubbish! At every stage they have attempted to prevent full debate and dissemination of information. Their stance has been both woolly and weak. It is only now that the community has woken up to the issue of Crossrail that they have come forward with a half-way decent response. Labour are arrogant and detached from the concerns of the people of this borough. It is time for them to go"