Crossrail carried out extensive stakeholder and public consultation in advance of the Parliamentary process. In 2003 and 2004 over 50 days of exhibitions were held to explain the proposals at over 30 different locations. Over 200,000 invitations were distributed to the properties of residents and businesses along the proposed route.

In addition Crossrail staff attended many meetings with councillors, local residents associations and businesses.

All consultation activities were planned and organised to comply with:

• the Code of Practice on the Dissemination of Information During Major Infrastructure Developments;
• the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information;
• the Cabinet Office Code of Practice on Government Consultations and
• the Transport and Works Act (Applications and Objections Procedure Rules) 1999 and the associated Guide to Procedures for Applications.

During the pre-Bill consultation, an independent Referee was appointed to whom consultees could make representations if they felt that the Company had not acted according to the Code of Practice on the Dissemination of Information During Major Infrastructure Developments.

The material produced to explain the proposals and the reports of the responses to the consultation are included here as examples of good practice. The learning legacy paper on Organising the Crossrail Consultation Programme, and the Aggregated Consultation Report of September 2005 explain how the consultation was set up and the results.

While government guidance on consultation has developed, including the publication of the revised Consultation Principles, other major infrastructure projects may find the Crossrail experience useful.