Lord Berkeley / Baroness Vere of Norbiton

Baroness Vere of Norbiton: There were two processes carried out concurrently. The first was the Call for Ideas as part of the Market Led Proposals workstream, which was carried out by the Department to explore numerous scheme proposals across a broad range of transport regions and routes; the second was a Market Sounding process that focussed specifically on Southern Access to Heathrow (SAtH) (formerly Southern Rail Link to Heathrow). There were twenty-seven contributors to the Southern Rail Link to Heathrow Market Sounding response. The Market Sounding Findings Report was published by Nichols and Agilia in October 2018, which includes the list of contributors to the Market Sounding questionnaire. The responses provided as part of the process were done under commercial confidentiality provisions. The market sounding exercise did not call for specific proposals but sought to explore opportunities to access significant private sector funding sources beyond just rail passenger revenues, including those derived from wider non-rail benefits, and to understand the appetite of the private sector to share the risk of developing the Southern Access scheme. Following the Market Sounding exercise, in November 2019 the Department published eight Strategic Objectives for the Southern Access scheme and is working to develop a commercial model to bring a private sector partner into the design and delivery of the project. Throughout this process, we have engaged significantly with stakeholders, including a number of those who responded to the market sounding exercise.