Stirling-Alloa-Kincardine Railway and Linked Improvements Bill Committee, 15 Mar 2004

Meeting date: Monday, March 15, 2004

Official Report 448KB pdf

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Stirling-Alloa-Kincardine Railway and Linked Improvements Bill: Consideration Stage

We will now proceed with today's ordinary business. I welcome witnesses, their representatives and members of the public. I do not intend to repeat all the introductory comments that I made last week, but I thank all parties, in particular the objectors and especially those objectors who have no professional support services, for all their assistance in accommodating the timetable and for complying with the deadlines for the submission of written evidence. The committee is conscious of the demands that are placed on people and all of us appreciate their efforts.

The committee will hear first from the witnesses for the promoter in each group and then from the witnesses for the objector in each group. Following the completion of evidence taking, the committee will give a representative of the group a maximum of five minutes to make any closing comments that he or she may want to make. The promoter will be given a maximum of 30 minutes to make any closing comments that it has on all the groups following the conclusion of evidence taking on the last group, either on 22 March or 29 March.

The committee intends to complete its evidence taking from five groups today. They are group 2, which we were unable to deal with last Monday, and groups 9, 18, 8 and 10. We have the written evidence before us and I ask all witnesses to refrain from simply repeating points that have been made in written evidence. The committee wants to ensure that fairness is shown both to the promoter and to the objectors. Of course, this is not a court of law and the committee will carry out its proceedings in a more informal manner than would be the case if it were. The procedures that we will follow contain a degree of flexibility to take account of the backgrounds of the witnesses and their representatives. The committee expects all parties to act respectfully towards one another and to the committee.

Members of the public are welcome to watch our proceedings. They may leave at any time during the meeting, but I ask them to do so quietly. I should also mention that, although the meeting is being held in public, it is not a public meeting; it is the formal work of the Parliament. Therefore, I would appreciate the co-operation of members of the public in ensuring the proper conduct of business today. I ask everyone, including committee members, to ensure that all mobile phones and pagers are switched off.