§ Mr. ButlerTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what arrangements he is making to receive financial advice on the channel tunnel rail link and to consult local authorities and other local interests about the project.
§ Mr. RifkindI am appointing Samuel Montagu and Company Ltd. to act as financial advisers on the rail link project.
Samuel Montagu will advise on private sector interests whilst the line is refined and on the best way in which to hand over the project to the private sector in due course. 503W It will also be the Department's point of contact for developers and other private sector concerns with a potential interest in funding and developing the rail link.
A new high-level forum, chaired by my hon. Friend the Minister for Public Transport, is also to be set up to allow discussions about the rail link project prior to the full public consultations which will be necessary as part of the environmental impact assessment. Local authorities directly affected by the project are being invited to be represented on the forum together with British Rail, my Department, Samuel Montagu, the Department of the Environment and Llewelyn-Davies Planning, the DOE's consultants for the east Thames corridor study. The London Planning Advisory Committee, SERPLAN and Eurotunnel are being invited to attend as observers. The forum is expected to meet for the first time on 17 February. The statutory environmental advisory bodies will also be involved in working-level discussions about the rail link.