MP Attacks 'Feebleness' as Crossrail link to Borough is Dropped from Plans

3.59.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 20th Jul 2004

The official (Montagu) report into the business case for Crossrail has recommended dropping the Richmond-Twickenham-Teddington-Kingston link from the main Crossrail project (the Benchmark Scheme) although it has the highest benefit to cost ratio of all parts of the system. The reasons given are partly financial - reducing Crossrail to a manageable scale - but "public opposition" (in Richmond) is also cited as a factor.

Vincent Cable said that the decision was "a bad one. If Crossrail goes ahead we shall get the worst of all worlds. We won't get the trains which would have provided commuters in St Margaret's, Teddington, Strawberry Hill and Hampton Wick with a new, fast, service to central London. But we shall have to pay higher council taxes to help finance the scheme in other parts of London. The feebleness of the council leadership and the very small, vocal, protest group in Richmond have contributed significantly to the negative decision.