Dear Mr Prescott

I respectfully request that you carefully consider our following demands: -

A postponement of the Public Inquiry (PI) until the Autumn.

A new pre-inquiry meeting (PIM).

A change of Inspector.

A change of venue for the PI and new PIM.

We were informed at the beginning of the PIM that it would be Minuted so I hope these Minutes have been forwarded to you so you are clearly aware of the concerns and issues discussed in detail by objector’s.

Our main (but by no means exhaustive) reasons for demanding a (1) postponement of Public Inquiry: -

1. The £50,000 pledged by Mayor Ken Livingstone to assist objectors in preparing their case for the Public Inquiry cannot be used effectively as more time is required to commission reports to challenge TfL’s work and for the results of that work to be evaluated and included in ‘proof of evidence’ at the Inquiry and to involve all groups, in all four boroughs, equally in decisions.

2. Discrepancies in collating records of objectors’ representations which has led to key objectors as well as individuals not receiving individual notification of the pre-inquiry meeting, the Public Inquiry or being offered Rule 6 status which would allow them to call witnesses and cross examine.

3. Unacceptable charges requested by TfL for hard copies of essential documents

and by Greenwich Council for requests for photocopying information in the public domain needed as evidence.

4. Delays requesting information (evidence) under the Freedom of Information Act.

5. I am still waiting for a list showing where the pre-inquiry meeting was advertised in local papers as stated at the meeting by TfL and included on page 14 of the Department for Transport’s booklet ‘What you need to know’.

Our main (but not exhaustive) reasons for demanding a (2) New Pre-Inquiry

Meeting: -

1. The pre-inquiry meeting was closed without completion of points 5 – 9 on the Agenda. Point 5 on the Agenda itself had 11 (eleven) items, the first being ‘Inquiries procedure rules’. Page 13 of the Department for Transport’s booklet entitled ‘What you need to know’ states ‘if there are lots of objectors or the issues are complicated – the Inspector may hold… a pre-inquiry meeting.’ The meeting will ‘concentrate on organisation and procedures’.

There are ‘lots of objectors’ and the scheme is ‘complicated’ (surely that is why the meeting was initially arranged) and we did not cover ‘organisation and procedure rules’ therefore it is not unreasonable to make a request for a new PIM to cover these and other points.

2. There is lack of clarification on matters raised during the PIM such as evening sessions, site visits and accessibility of essential documents for local people as it had been arranged by the Inspector to cover these points in detail later on the Agenda.

3. Further requests by objectors were not heard as point 9 on the Agenda ‘Any other business’ was not reached.

Our main reasons for requesting a (3) change of Inspector is that at the start of the PIM Mr Barker declared that he had worked for Halcrow. We believe this is a serious conflict of interest as Halcrow have worked extensively on this scheme. We therefore respectfully ask that a new ‘impartial’ Inspector be appointed.

We do not feel Mr Barker handled the meeting well. It was obvious the meeting was over-running and the Agenda could not be completed. People were tired, hungry and thirsty and people like myself and others needed to collect children, go to other meetings etc. It would be good to consider a new pre-inquiry meeting date that begins mid-morning and is not held during the school holidays when children are home and many people are away.

Our reasons for requesting a (4) change of venue were partly discussed at the PIM. However more detailed discussion was required between all parties present but this did not happen because the PIM was closed. This discussion needs to happen with all parties present so that travelling arrangements and times can be discussed in detail.

For this scheme to be seen to proceed democratically the above demands should be met.

With Regards

Jacqui Wise and Steve Wise (Co-Founders & Co-ordinators)

42 BERKELEY AVENUE, BEXLEYHEATH, KENT, DA7 4UA

TEL: 020 8301 4243 MOBILE: 07748 132161

E-MAIL: JACQUIWISE@TISCALI.CO.UK

Terry Grant (SMRA Secretary & AGAB Co-ordinator)

34 ALBURY AVENUE, BEXLEYHEATH, KENT 4SJ

TEL: 020 8298 1105 MOBILE: 0780 1265713

E-MAIL: TERRY@PVR.CO.UK