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High Speed 2 (HS2)

High Speed 2 (HS2)

High Speed 2 (HS2) is the proposed high-speed railway between London, the Midlands and the North of England.  The project is being developed by High Speed Two Ltd, a company established by the British Government.  The route takes the form of a “Y” with a trunk from London to Birmingham, and then two spurs, one to Manchester, and the other to Leeds via the East Midlands.  It will be built in stages, with the London to Birmingham section being Phase 1.  There would be no intermediate calling points between London and the West Midlands.

HS2 Phase 2 – Birmingham to Leeds and Manchester

The Department of Transport announced the preferred route for Phase 2 of the HS2 project, which links Birmingham with Leeds and Manchester in January 2013.  More detailed information including maps is available on the Government website.

HS2 Phase 2b Route Announcement

The Government announced the proposed route for the Y-shaped extension of HS2 to Leeds and Manchester on 15th November 2016, whilst also announcing a consultation on seven route refinement areas.  On 17th July 2017, the Secretary of State for Transport announced his decisions on these refinements.  A large amount of detailed information, including maps of the proposed route, is available on the HS2 Phase 2b pages of the GOV.UK website.

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hs2-phase-2b-crewe-to-manchester-and-the-west-midlands-to-leeds

Safeguarding directions have been issued, which trigger the right for those affected to seek statutory compensation.  The property compensation schemes are now live.  These include the Need to Sell Scheme and the Express Purchase Scheme which were also available earlier.

The environmental surveys were undertaken until summer 2018 and HS2 has now launched its consultation on its Working Draft Environmental Statement for Phase 2b.  The closing date for responses is 21st December 2018.  The Secretary of State for Transport’s Written Statement to Parliament can be found on the government portal.

HS2 are holding Community Engagement Events until 7 December 2018, these are aimed at sharing details of the railway’s evolving design, further details of which can be found on the HS2 website.  The consultation documents can be accessed via the  Navigator tool  and we understand that this is said to work best using Google Chrome and less well using Internet Explorer.  If you cannot use the Navigator Tool, most documents including the Non-Technical Summary, the 28 Community Area Reports and the Route-Wide Impacts report can be downloaded from the government portal.

If you are affected by the route of HS2 it would be prudent to check the Working Draft Environmental Statement as extra land might be required for the construction phase, tree planting/screening, balancing ponds, relocation of services and ecology etc. 

Timescale

The Government has confirmed that Phase 2b is planned to be operational by 2033.  Phase 2a (the link to Crewe) is due to be completed by 2027.

If you own a property near to the preferred route and are concerned that the latest information shows that the scheme may impact your property, then for professional advice please contact our Knaresborough Office on 01423 860322.