Government revises planning safeguards for first phase of HS2

THE Government has updated the safeguarding directions to local planning authorities along the phase one route of high speed rail network, HS2.

Safeguarding is an established part of the UK planning system and ensures that land identified for major infrastructure is protected from conflicting development.

The update follows a number of changes to the route of the £50bn railway agreed when the House of Commons Select Committee was scrutinising the Bill on to build phase one of the project between London and Birmingham.

HS2 Ltd, the company designing and building the railway, has contacted the residents directly affected by the revisions.

The improvements to the route, made public during the Committee process, will mean fewer properties are impacted by the railway.

The changes include a 1.6 mile extension to the deep-bored tunnel under the Chilterns – preserving almost 30 acres of woodland while reducing the scale and duration of local construction activity.

The new directions also cover the realignment of the route near Lichfield to allow the railway to pass under the A38, the West Coast Main Line and the South Staffordshire Line rather than run over them on viaducts and make two crossings over the Trent and Mersey Canal.

There are also a range of other smaller changes to the route. As well as protecting the land required for HS2, safeguarding directions trigger statutory compensation arrangements for affected homeowners.

This means that owner-occupiers within safeguarding who qualify can apply to the Government to purchase their property and cover some additional costs. In addition to this statutory compensation, a range of discretionary property schemes are in place that go well beyond what is required by law, these include measures aimed at people affected by HS2 who live outside the safeguarded area.