Crowlands Action Group
C.A.G. latest and a few words of thanks...
Well, that's it. Our petition against the siting of the Crossrail Depot in Romford has been submitted and is currently being considered, along with 357 other petitions.
Once the petitions have been sifted through, mainly to avoid issues being repeated, the Select Committee will be chosen and a date will be set for proceedings to commence. It is our understanding that we are unlikely to know if our petition has been accepted until the first day of the committee but we are reasonably confident that we will be heard.
It has been a long, hard haul getting this far. Remember, we are a group of ordinary residents and apart from having to research our facts, we have had to learn protocol regarding matters in Parliament as well as at local level. None of us have ever done anything like this before and hope never to have the cause to put ourselves through this again.
As this is the lull before the storm, so to speak, I think this would be a good opportunity to take the time to say a few 'thank you's' to those who have been invaluable to us so far.
Because of the nature of this project, i.e. it will become law by the process of becoming a Hybrid Bill, much of the work we have done has had to rely on the efforts of Andrew Rosindell M.P., who has done all he can to ensure that the plight of the residents in Romford has been heard in the right places. He is also in the process of trying to secure meetings for the group with the shadow Transport Secretary and/or one of his shadow ministers. Andrew also has a group of assistants, both in Westminster and here in Romford. We have found them all to be most helpful and accommodating.
Roger Evans, our GLA representative has been a guiding light on many things and ensured that our original petition of 2,303 signatures was also submitted to the assembly.
Also our thanks go to Jenny Jones and Darren Johnson, Green Party GLA members, who have also submitted questions to the Mayor on our behalf. Also to Mel Collins who has recently been a valuable contact within the Green Party.
We would like to thank all of the above for all the practical help they have been able to offer so far and hope that they are able to continue to support us.
Locally, our ward councillors have all given much needed words of support both in their newsletters and in the press. We thank them all for this and for those who went the extra mile and turned out for press photo calls and who spoke up for us in the Council chamber, an extra thank you.
Council leader, Cllr. Michael White, has also been a vocal source of support - Thank you.
With the local elections only a matter of months away, we don't know who will be our councillors, if and when Crossrail comes to the local planning stage. I would like to take this opportunity to say that we will need support from our councillors, no matter what their political persuasion, and we look forward to having a good working relationship with them when the time comes.
Well, that's it. It's just a case of wait and see now. We don't expect that the Select Committee will sit until early next year - but who knows? Please keep your eye on our website for updates and up-coming fundraising events.
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