Tonight:
9°c
Business deal secures Crossrail future
Jason Beattie, Evening Standard04.10.07
Crossrail was effectively in the bag today after a historic deal with business leaders secured the last piece of funding for the vital project.
The Corporation of London has agreed to pay £250 million towards the cost, with the promise of a further £100 million coming from major City firms.
An official announcement from Gordon Brown is expected imminently.
"We are nearly there. There are negotiations going on but it is now a question of days," said a senior government source. If agreed, major construction work would start in 2010 with the first trains running in 2017.
Securing a deal with the Square Mile was seen as the last major hurdle to be cleared before the Government could give the official go-ahead.
Sources claim the only decision remaining is when Mr Brown decides will be the most politically advantageous time to make the announcement. That could be as early as this week.
Negotiations had stalled after Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly asked leading financial centres, including Canary Wharf and the City, to contribute £1billion towards the £17billion rail link, which will run from Heathrow to east London and beyond, via the West End and the City.
With money forthcoming from BAA, owners of Heathrow, and the Canary Wharf group the last piece of the jigsaw was securing at least £350 million from the Square Mile. At an emergency meeting of the Corporation of London yesterday its Common Councillors voted overwhelmingly in favour. It is believed that all sides have gone so far that it would now be too embarrassing to allow the scheme to collapse.
"I don't think we are at the stage where we can say 'Go, Go, Go'. What we can say is the last significant hurdle has been overcome and it is now up to the Government to commit themselves to the scheme," said one source.
Reader views (3)
This looks like another exercise in spin by Gordon Brown ahead of an election he will call on the 1st November. London commuters continue to suffer at the expense of politicians who seem to spend too much time posturing to the media rather than listening and acting on the issues which face people in their daily lives. Why should we believe that this will happen now? We have already had 10 years of no action from this government. They should be kicked out of power when the election comes.
- Mick Mchale, Orpington
Why is everyone so delighted at this announcement? Crossrail was proposed by the previous government and was supposed to be part of John Prescott's infamous Green Paper on transport that he had written for him in 1997. Now, 10 years later, we are told that in 10 years time, we might just be able to get a train from Heathrow to Stratford. Just shows how we have wasted the last ten years when we could already have this railway up and running.
- Nobby Clark, London
Crossrail got the "green light" from the government in 2003 and still nothing has happened - why should this be any different?
- Bernard North, London
