Andrew Dismore AM: Thank you, Chairman. Could I ask David [Bellamy] and Fiona [Fletcher-Smith]? May I explore with you the pros and cons of HS2 terminating temporarily at Old Oak Common? In July last year [2016] the Mayor said, quote: “I have been clear that I would like to understand whether HS2 could terminate at Old Oak on a temporary basis to minimise disruption and allow for a better overall solution for Euston Station. This is something that I am discussing with Transport for London.” Could you confirm what the results of that discussion were and whether Old Oak Common...
That is very welcome. Will you actually write that into the contracts, and has it already been written into those contracts that have already been let?
Again, will there be independent monitoring, as I mentioned earlier with the sustainability issues, of contracts, compliance, and such like to ensure that it does happen, and it is actually delivered?
Is there a declared date for that to happen, or is this going to be a gradual process? We have already heard that the position over the land acquisition is not completely clear and is in a process of negotiation.
Would you not agree that we have five layers of bureaucracy already in this structure chart that we have seen? That is before some of these organisations come into being. There is also a tremendous amount of confusion ' certainly in our minds ' as to what these various different bodies are going to do. It therefore suggests that it is going to be difficult, if not impossible, for this Assembly to properly scrutinise this work. The suggestion is very clear that the attempt is being made to obscure the whole thing, so that if and when anything goes wrong...