Crossrail Station at Woolwich

Monday 2nd September 2013 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Stephen Hammond)]

My noble Friend, the Earl Attlee, made the following written ministerial statement in the Lords on 25 July:

I am pleased to inform the House that the Crossrail sponsors (the Department for Transport and Transport for London) yesterday instructed Crossrail Ltd to complete the Crossrail station at Woolwich. This instruction will allow the station at Woolwich to open alongside the rest of the central section of the Crossrail route, currently scheduled to happen in December 2018.

The then Secretary of State for Transport, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), made a statement in February 2011 confirming that an agreement for building the station box at Woolwich had been finalised—16 February 2011, Official Report, column 88WS. Since then Berkeley Homes has proceeded with construction of the box, in line with that agreement. This work was completed ahead of schedule in March this year and the box has now been handed over to Crossrail Ltd.

Government had always made it clear that completion of the station would be conditional upon receiving sufficient funding contributions from those developers and businesses that stand to benefit from a Crossrail station at Woolwich.

The instruction to complete the station, therefore, follows the conclusion of an agreement to fund the fit-out works.

Crossrail Ltd is receiving fixed additional funding of £54 million. This is made up of contributions from the royal borough of Greenwich, through local developer contributions and a grant from the Greater London Authority; Berkeley Homes, the site developer; and Transport for London, whose contribution will be repaid through the additional farebox revenue generated by the station.

The remainder of the funding will be provided by Crossrail Ltd. Crossrail Ltd had made budgetary provision for works that were required to allow trains to run through the station box. This will be reallocated to the works required to complete the station.

A fully operational station at Woolwich will support the regeneration of this part of south-east London, supporting the local borough’s growth ambitions as well as significantly improving connectivity and access to job opportunities. It will also provide jobs during construction.

Crossrail Ltd will now begin the process of procuring the fit-out works and will be publishing an OJEU shortly.