High speed 2

On 11th March the Government published the High Speed 2 report. It is part of a Command Paper on high speed rail which Lord Adonis announced to Parliament. The Department for Transport is the sponsor/promoter of the scheme, their website is the best place to get information. The report is now available at: http://www.dft.gov.uk/highspeedrail.

The report identifies a preferred route for a high speed railway line from London to the West Midlands and some of the other options that were considered.  The preferred route goes through the west side of Buckinghamshire. The route skirts close to some villages and towns and will have an impact on the Chiltern Hills. For more detailed maps and information visit http://www.dft.gov.uk/results?view=Filter&h=m&m=4552&pg=1. For detailed maps including tunnels and viaducts go to Chapter 5 in the document: http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/pi/highspeedrail/hs2ltd/routeengineering/ 

The Coalition Government has shown a commitment to High Speed Rail though including it in the Queen’s Speech, the government will "enable the construction of a high-speed network". No timetable for the work or details on routes were given. The announcement only said the Bill would be introduced in "due course".

If you have any enquiries about this scheme and don't have access to a computer please contact the Department for Transport on 0300 330 3000.

The paper shows how the Government plans to take this work forward. On the 24th June changes by the Coalition Government to the remit of HS2 Ltd were published. This has ultimately put back the date for public consultation from Autumn 2010 to the New Year 2011. There are other elements to the change in remit, for more information please see: http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/pi/highspeedrail/hs2remit/.

The Government has also published a consultation on an exceptional hardship scheme aimed at protecting the interests of owner-occupiers of properties particularly affected by the preferred London – West Midlands route. This consultation has now closed. To see a copy of Buckinghamshire County Councils’ response to the exceptional hardship scheme consultation please see related files.

In addition a review has been carried out by Lord Mawhinney on the links between HS2 and Heathrow. To see Buckinghamshire County Council’s submission to the review please see related files.

Consultation Events

Two day exhibitions (These dates may change)

• Aylesbury – tbc
Venue - Olympic Lodge Hotel, Stoke Mandeville

• Wendover – tbc
Venue - Memorial Hall

• Amersham – tbc
Venue – tbc

One day trailer exhibitions (These dates may change)

• Chalfont St Giles – tbc
Venue – Blizzard Yard car park – tbc

• Great Missenden – tbc
Venue - Buryfields car park – tbc

• Waddesdon – tbc
Venue - Waddesdon Fire Station car park

• Calvert – tbc
Venue – Memorial Hall car park

Key Messages
The Member Project Board (MPB) agreed on 14 January that our key messages should be:

The authorities in Buckinghamshire and Hillingdon have come together to oppose the proposals for High Speed rail as they are currently constructed.

We do not believe that the business case stacks up and therefore cannot support the route suggested by the Government and are actively working on a plan to strongly object to the proposals.

We are opposed to the current High Speed rail proposals as they are presently outlined and do not believe that they are in the best interests of the UK as a whole in terms of the benefits claimed in the business case.

We are not opposed to the need for higher speed rail per se and fully acknowledge the need for strategic improvement to the national rail infrastructure but cannot agree with the current proposals as the economic and environmental benefits are not at all credible.

We do not believe that all the other alternatives to achieve the transport capacity, regeneration and environmental benefits have been fully explored by the Government and with the billions of pounds that are proposed to be invested, we owe it to the nation to ensure these are fully explored.

The overarching campaign message is: “Is HS2 the right investment priority for the UK?”

Consultation Events

Two day exhibitions

• Aylesbury – 10 and 11 May
  Venue - Olympic Lodge Hotel, Stoke Mandeville
• Wendover – 13 and 14 May
  Venue - Memorial Hall
• Amersham – 20 and 21 May
  Venue – tbc

One day trailer exhibitions

• Chalfont St Giles – 9 May
  Venue – Blizzard Yard car park – tbc
• Great Missenden – 12 May
  Venue - Buryfields car park – tbc
• Waddesdon – 16 May
  Venue - Waddesdon Fire Station car park
• Calvert – 26 May
  Venue – Memorial Hall car park

Key messages

The Member Project Board (MPB) agreed on 14 January that our key messages should be:

The authorities in Buckinghamshire and Hillingdon have come together to oppose the proposals for High Speed rail as they are currently constructed.

We do not believe that the business case stacks up and therefore cannot support the route suggested by the Government and are actively working on a plan to strongly object to the proposals.

We are opposed to the current High Speed rail proposals as they are presently outlined and do not believe that they are in the best interests of the UK as a whole in terms of the benefits claimed in the business case.

We are not opposed to the need for higher speed rail per se and fully acknowledge the need for strategic improvement to the national rail infrastructure but cannot agree with the current proposals as the economic and environmental benefits are not at all credible.

We do not believe that all the other alternatives to achieve the transport capacity, regeneration and environmental benefits have been fully explored by the Government and with the billions of pounds that are proposed to be invested, we owe it to the nation to ensure these are fully explored.

The overarching campaign message is: “Is HS2 the right investment priority for the UK?”

Stakeholder Summit

Buckinghamshire and the District Councils have recently jointly hosted the HS2 Stakeholder Summit that concentrated on the overall Business Case for HS2. The Chair was Sir Henry Aubrey-Fletcher and speakers included John Bercow MP, Steven Baker MP, Christian Wolmar (transport journalist and broadcaster) and HS2 Action Alliance. The event proved to be extremely well received and there was very positive feedback from delegates. Another summit is being organised for Autumn 2010 to examine the environmental impacts of the HS2 proposals. HS2 Stakeholder Summit: The Business Case.

Buckinghamshire Landscape Information System (BLIS)

To aid Buckinghamshire County Council to have a baseline of environment, land-use and landscape data the Natural Environment Team have been working on the development of a strategic analysis tool called BLIS.  Much of the work behind BLIS has been funded through County Council’s Spatial Planning funds and has taken over three years to develop.  Once finalised, this integrated system will be of value to spatial planning, development control, master planning and land management professionals helping to inform Local Development Frameworks and SAs and provide an important means for testing development proposals, assessing sensitivity and impact. More information on the project and access to some of the data from BLIS is available in the link below.

Landscape Character Assessments

Key to the future development of BLIS and the need to fully test proposals by HS2 Ltd is the need to have fine-grain Landscape Character Assessments for whole the County. The recent support from Wycombe, South Bucks and Chiltern District Councils ensures that this work will now be progressing and will be finalised by March 2011.

HS2 Baseline Environmental Assessments

In preparation of future consultation on HS2 proposals, the Natural Environment Team at Buckinghamshire County Council has undertaken a ‘Baseline Environment Assessment’ of potential environmental, landscape and landuse impacts relating to each of three routes (2.5, ‘preferred route 3’ and 4) originally proposed by HS2 Ltd.  Aligning to a methodology previously used by consultants for assessing HS1 proposals in Kent, a 1km corridor of search has been utilised to provide an indication of potential impacts.  The assessment considers over 40 different types of asset or designation including: Sites of Special Scientific Interest; Local Wildlife Sites; Protected Species; Scheduled Ancient Monuments; Ancient Semi-Natural Woodland; Attractive Landscape Designations; Geological Sites; Conservation Areas and Listed Buildings.  More information on the project and access to some of the data from BLIS is available in the link below.

NEW: Audit for Preferred Route 3 (January 2011) now available: Following the HS2 Ltd announced revision of Preferred Route 3 in December 2010 the County Council has now revised the previous audit undertaken for Route 3 in order to take into consideration changes to both alignment and associated infrastructure.  The 'Baseline Environmental Audit' for the "Optimised Preferred Route 3" is available in the link below and updates previous work undertaken on the original route.    

HS2 Property Blight Corridors in Buckinghamshire

This document describes the Natural Environment Team's approach to undertaking a baseline assessment of potential property blight resulting from three proposed High Speed Rail (HS2) routes through Buckinghamshire. The assessments consider all post code addresses falling within 9 distinct distance buffers (moving-out from each railway line) and breaks these down into 7 different types of impact or 'Blight Categories': viaduct; tunnel; embankment; at grade; widening existing; cutting; and retained wall.  This work was undertaken to support the work of HS2 Action Alliance and it is proposed that the methodology be employed by other Councils along HS2 routes in order that a full route length of HS2 proposals have been mapped. 

HS2 – Public Rights of Way report: baseline impacts and associated strategy

Proposals for High Speed rail in Buckinghamshire will impact on landscape, biodiversity and people. The 3,300km network of public rights of way in Buckinghamshire is a considerable economic asset, an important part of the county highway infrastructure and a key element within the county’s tourism sector. Without adequate crossings, proposals will have substantial negative impacts on this high quality network; affecting route connectivity, amenity and the public’s quiet enjoyment of the countryside.  Initially this report provides an assessment of the likely impacts on the ROW network. Further it sets out the broad principles that would need to be adopted undertaken should any of the routes proceed.  HS2 Ltd are requested to take on-board this baseline report and to ensure that Buckinghamshire County Council and relevant partners are engaged in the design and implementation of alternatives or mitigation at an early stage of any development for HS2 proceeding. Rights of Way Report