HS2 Phase 2a design refinement consultation

In November 2015, the Secretary of State for Transport announced his decision to bring forward plans for the West Midlands to Crewe section of the HS2 route (known as Phase 2a) to open in 2027, 6 years ahead of schedule. To obtain the legal powers to build and operate this part of the railway, the government intends to deposit a hybrid Bill in Parliament by the end of 2017.

The development of a major engineering project such as HS2 involves a series of design refinements right up until the point of construction. When refining the design, HS2 looks to make improvements, where possible, on environmental, technical, service and cost aspects of the scheme. The majority of these are minor and are reflected in the scheme design described, and shown in maps, within the ‘working draft environmental impact assessment (EIA) report’.

However, there are 3 proposed changes to the design which are being consulted on separately as part of this design refinement consultation and are being considered by the Secretary of State for Transport. These are:

• extending the proposed tunnel at Crewe, re-siting the tunnel entrance south of the A500 and Weston Lane
• moving the lines near Crewe that would connect HS2 to the West Coast Main Line further south and extending their length
• constructing a temporary railhead near Stone, with the potential to convert it to a permanent maintenance facility

This consultation asks for views, based on the information included in the ‘Design refinement consultation’ document, which will be independently analysed and reported, and then considered by the Secretary of State when making his decision about the final route.

We are holding events for this consultation.

Consultation on the ‘Phase 2a West Midlands to Crewe design refinement’ is being undertaken alongside consultation on the working draft EIA report and consultation on the working draft equality impact assessment (EQIA) report.

Consultation responses will be published on a publicly accessible website. Individuals’ names, addresses or signatures will not be published. However, please do not include information in your response that could identify you, unless you are happy for it to be made public.

If you do not want any of your response to be published, you should clearly mark it as ‘confidential’ in the subject line of the email or at the top of your letter. However, please note the following. All information provided in response to this consultation, including personal information, may be subject to disclosure in accordance with access to information regimes - these are, primarily, the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FoIA), the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004.

Under the FoIA, there is a statutory Code of Practice with which public authorities must comply and which deals with our confidentiality obligations, amongst other things. In view of this, it would be helpful if you could explain in your response why you regard the information you have provided as confidential. If we receive a request for disclosure of the information you provide, we will take full account of your explanation, but we cannot give an assurance that confidentiality can be maintained in all circumstances. An automatic confidentiality disclaimer generated by your IT system will not, of itself, be regarded as binding on the Department for Transport or HS2 Ltd.