6500. MR MOULD: I would very much associate myself with my Lord, the Lord Chairman's point; these matters really do turn on the facts and one will have to consider them as and when they arise in the light of the provisions that I have referred your Lordships to within the Bill.

  6501. CHAIRMAN: I think it is the same point. Paragraph 10(2)(a) and 5, together with the facts, will govern the eligibility for compensation.

  6502. MR MOULD: My Lord, I can add nothing useful to that observation.

  6503. CHAIRMAN: Mr Mould, do you want to say anything else?

  6504. MR MOULD: No, my Lord, I think we have covered the point. Thank you very much.

  6505. CHAIRMAN: A final comment from you, Mr Cartwright?

  6506. MR CARTWRIGHT: My Lord, thank you. A final comment is I think we have taken our situation forward considerably this afternoon, and I am grateful for that. In conclusion I would say that it was our intention, being that we do not have a large legal team and we do not particularly wish to spend the next five years continually trying to sue the Promoters to achieve some compensation in respect of one or another thing, to try to reach a solution through the device of the loss of navigation, which would satisfy us completely and allow us to get on with our lives and not to have any further need to have contact or involvement with Crossrail during the construction. It is not intended that we should have a series of claims, or anything of that nature, but we wish to arrive at one complete and comprehensive conclusion, so that we can then put the matter to rest and go forward with our lives in the knowledge that we have some reassurance and safeguard for our future while our lives are on hold due to the locking-in of the vessels.

  6507. CHAIRMAN: You are looking forward to a private agreement with Crossrail, are you, as well?

  6508. MR CARTWRIGHT: I believe that that is the most satisfactory conclusion for the boat owners I represent, my Lord.

  6509. CHAIRMAN: I think it will be supported by the terms of the Bill as they stand, provided the facts justify compensation being granted. Any more points? Thank you very much indeed.

  6510. MR CARTWRIGHT: Thank you, my Lord.

  6511. MR MOULD: I think that completes the Committee's business for today. It may be helpful if I just foreshadow very briefly what is on the bill of fare tomorrow.

  6512. CHAIRMAN: Yes, and of course some of us are quite interested in when it is going to end, it being Bank Holiday weekend.

  6513. MR MOULD: Whilst I would be delighted to carry on into the depths of the evening I think there are others behind me who would share your Lordship's view on that as well. What I can tell your Lordship is this: that so far as the Corporation of London is concerned (and Mr Walker will scowl at me if I get this wrong), the issues between us, I think, may be narrow. I think that we may find that your Lordships are only asked to grapple with the question of noise and the Barbican Theatre, whereas the Billingsgate Fish Market car parking issue that Ms Lieven reminded you of the other day, we may have been making very good progress towards an agreed position there. Whether we will have achieved agreement I cannot say, but I think things are narrowing there.

  6514. CHAIRMAN: We will see.

  6515. MR MOULD: In fact, it is an even happier story: we are making good progress in relation to the question of noise at the Barbican as well, and there is, I am told, a real prospect that we may be able to report that we have resolved our differences. I think I can put it no higher than that.

  6516. CHAIRMAN: I think that will be quite an important precedent for other sensitive buildings.

  6517. MR MOULD: Indeed so.

  6518. CHAIRMAN: So it is quite important, in the end—I do not know whether the terms are going to be able to be published but it is an undertaking and something the Committee might well wish to report upon.

  6519. MR MOULD: We will certainly take that forward.