Stirling-Alloa-Kincardine Railway and Linked Improvements Bill Committee, 22 Mar 2004
Meeting date: Monday, March 22, 2004
Official Report
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Scottish Parliament Stirling-Alloa-Kincardine Railway and Linked Improvements Bill Committee Monday 22 March 2004
[The Convener opened the meeting at 11:19]
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I open the fifth meeting this year of the Stirling-Alloa-Kincardine Railway and Linked Improvements Bill Committee. I welcome witnesses, their representatives and members of the public.
The committee intends to complete its evidence taking in respect of all remaining groups today, beginning with group 10 which, unfortunately, we were unable to deal with last Monday.
The committee will hear first from the witnesses for the promoter in each group, and then from the witnesses for the objector. 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 have. The promoter will be given a maximum of 30 minutes to make any closing comments that it has in respect of all the groups following the conclusion of evidence taking in respect of the last group, which it is hoped will be taken today. The committee has the written evidence before it, so I ask all witnesses to refrain from simple repetition of points previously made in written evidence.
The committee wishes to ensure that fairness is shown to both the promoter and the objectors. This is not a court of law, of course, and the committee will carry out its proceedings in a more informal manner. The procedures that we will follow will have a degree of flexibility to take account of the backgrounds of the witnesses and their representatives. The committee expects all parties to act respectfully to one another and, indeed, to the committee.
I ask everyone, including committee members, to ensure that all mobile phones and pagers are switched off.