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Mayor of London announces establishment of Crossrail 2 Growth Commission

23 Jul 2015, 2:23 pm

Mayor of London Boris Johnson has announced that a new growth commission has been set up to maximise the benefits of the proposed Crossrail 2 rail link across London.

A statement released by the mayor's office said the Crossrail 2 Growth Commission would bring together London's borough councils and other stakeholders who would be affected by the proposed north-east to south-west rail link across the capital "to work together on how the railway can best support housing and job creation".

The mayor said Crossrail 2 could "support up to 200,000 more homes and jobs" and announced that the Commission would be chaired by Sir Merrick Cockell, the chairman of local government and localism think-tank Localis and former chairman of the Local Government Association.

The announcement was accompanied by a letter from more than 50 business leaders calling on UK chancellor George Osborne to "use the Comprehensive Spending Review to grow the UK economy and provide the development funding necessary to design Crossrail 2 so that trains can start running in 2030 to support new jobs, homes and a productive economy".

Transport for London and Network Rail said last summer that they anticipated an application for powers to build Crossrail 2 in late 2017 or 2018, with the potential for construction to commence by 2020, if funding could be secured. A third round of public consultation is planned for the autumn, on more detailed plans including the proposed locations for station entrances and work sites.

Planning law expert George Wilson of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said: "It is encouraging that this commission has been set up at such an early stage in the design process. On this basis, it should be able to influence the emerging plans for the scheme, to ensure that Crossrail 2 maximises its growth and regeneration potential."

"We have seen from HS2 that large infrastructure projects often have significant growth potential that is not always realised. However, it will be interesting to see how the scope and role of the commission evolves over the life-cycle of the project. There is also of course the inherent risk that the interests of the various stakeholders involved in the Commission do not align, neutralising the potential benefits," said Wilson.