Birmingham Northern Relief Road (Hansard, 16 October 1995)

§ Mr. Watts

This is an operational matter for the Highways Agency.

The chief executive has written to the hon. Member.

Letter from Lawrie Haynes to Mr. Mike O'Brien dated 13 October 1995: Just before the House rose for the Summer recess you asked the Secretary of State what account the Highways Agency took of the cost to Dr. Whitelegg of supplying copies of all reference documents referred to in his submission to the inquiry into the Birmingham Northern Relief Road. I am sorry it has not been possible to let you have an earlier reply. All objectors will incur some costs in presenting their case at inquiry. We do what we can to reduce these costs by providing access to a range of official documents and reasonable copying facilities free of charge. The onus is on an objector to substantiate his own evidence. If he is relying on material contained in other publications to support his case, the Inspector and other parties at the inquiry, including the Highways Agency, will wish to satisfy themselves that the references are accurate and relevant. In practice the only satisfactory way of doing that is to provide the document, or the relevant part of it, to the inquiry. Copies will be made by the Agency where possible. In the particular case of Dr. Whitelegg, the Agency asked him to provide copies of documents on which he was depending in his proofs of evidence on behalf of a number of residents' groups and societies. In response to representations from two of the groups the Agency did obtain copies of most of the documents. But there were about 14 that we could not readily obtain. Since Dr. Whitelegg was depending on these publications in his evidence we assumed he would have access to them. We offered to make copies for the inquiry. I understand this arrangement has proved acceptable to the groups concerned. 67W You also wrote to John Watts enclosing a copy of your letter dated 18 July to David Shepperd, the Agency's Project Manager for the scheme. I can assure you that the Agency is not trying to obstruct those opposed to its proposals. It is quite usual for the Agency to ask objectors to supply copies of reference material and the new Highways Inquiries Procedures Rules do enable the Secretary of State to require objectors to submit a Statement of Case and copies of documents referred to. Prior to the opening of the inquiry the Agency placed on deposit a number of documents to which it intended to refer in evidence. More have been placed in the library as the inquiry has progressed. I hope this is helpful. Ultimately, the decision on whether or not a supporting document should be provided rests with the Inspector.