Council considers petition against HS2 Bill in bid to win concessions
Cheshire East councillors will debate moves to petition against the HS2 Crewe-Manchester Bill to be considered by Parliament.
The council said it is aimed at negotiating enhancements and mitigations for residents and businesses.
The Corporate Policy Committee will consider the proposals next Thursday (February 10).
On January 24, 2022, the Government deposited the Bill in Parliament containing proposals for the high speed rail line between Crewe and Manchester between 2035 and 2041.
The scheme is sometimes referred to as Phase 2b of HS2 or Phase 2b western leg of HS2.
It follows on from Phase 2a, for the route from Fradley to Crewe, which gained Royal Assent a year ago.
However, councillors are concerned that the Bill does not include the necessary investments at Crewe hub station to deliver the vision to support increased traffic. The plan is for the station to be able to handle between five and seven high speed trains per hour.
They argue that by petitioning against the Bill it provides the council the opportunity to seek that government reviews its plans for the benefit of Crewe and to ensure the station meets the requirement of a 21st Century transport hub.
Likewise, councillors say the Bill will have significant impacts on the environment and ecology of Cheshire East and cause disruption to residents along the route. Petitioning against the Bill provides the final opportunity for the council to influence these proposals to minimise these impacts or secure additional mitigation measures against them.
The Bill could have its second reading later this month, with a 25 day petitioning period, commencing the following day.
By not petitioning the council would have negligible opportunity to influence the proposals for Crewe, or seek additional measures against the impacts of the scheme before they become an Act of Parliament.
Notes to the committee said: “It is not unusual for an organisation such as a local authority which, in principle, supports a Bill, to petition against it to seek (for instance) better mitigation for its area. This happened during the promotion of the Phase 1 and Phase 2a Bills and resulted, in some cases, in changes to the proposals in line with the local authority’s petitioning position
“The council petitioned against the HS2 Phase 2a Bill and, as a result, secured a number of assurances. This included a £700,000 Landscape and Environment Enhancement Fund to provide additional environmental and ecological mitigations in and around the line of route. This Fund was increased to £850,000 following the petition of Cheshire Wildlife Trust.”
The overall costs to petition could be anything between £200,000 to £700,000, but the notes confirm that this will be funded by HS2-earmarked reserves and the existing HS2 revenue budget.
