Cross Rail 2 Response Received

Love Wimbledon has received a statement from Crossrail2 in response to our questioning about the future development of CR2.

The full statement is below, stating that all consultancy work has now ceased and indicating that CR2 will not be progressing any development plans for the foreseeable future. However the safeguarding proposals need to be updated as they and as such we are pressurising the CR2 team to refresh these plans.

In his letter of 31 October on TfL’s emergency funding settlement, Secretary of State Grant Shapps set out that one condition of the package was that in relation to Crossrail 2, TfL “prioritises safeguarding activity and brings an orderly end to consultancy work as soon as possible. DfT will support such safeguarding activity for this project as required.”

As such, work on progressing Crossrail 2 towards a Hybrid Bill is being paused. The project team have already spent several months ‘making good’ the scheme (finishing key pieces of work and digitising all records) ahead of it being paused, and this work is now almost complete. We will work to help the SoS refresh the safeguarding directions in order to safeguard the scheme’s route from future developments. We await DfT clarification on the timetable for this work. We will also continue to work with stakeholders with developments affected by our safeguarding so that we can protect the route until such time as we can gain powers and start construction.

 Given TfL’s current finances and the requirement for us to pay for half of the scheme, we are not in a position to confirm when our Hybrid Bill work can restart.  The Mayor has confirmed that Crossrail 2 will still be needed to support London’s growth. We have clearly demonstrated the case for the scheme but need to be in a position to afford to help pay for it.

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