Today the Government has announced the launch of a consultation on 11 proposed changes to the design of Phase 2b, the section of the HS2 route from Crewe to Manchester and West Midlands to Leeds.
These changes are being proposed following design development, environmental assessment, feedback to consultations and ongoing engagement and are a mixture of relocations and realignments, new infrastructure and the introduction of new scope to the HS2 design.
The changes only affect sections of the Phase 2b route, however everyone is welcome to respond to the consultation.
Design refinement number six is of specific interest (Leeds Corridor, Woodlesford to Leeds Station). The Secretary of State is minded to change the height of the route for 8km on the approach into Leeds Station so the line runs predominantly on a viaduct, rather than a combination of at ground level cutting and embankment.
The Secretary of State will decide whether to include the proposed changes in the Phase 2b design following consideration of the feedback to this consultation.
This consultation will close at 23:45 on 6 September 2019. We invite you to take part.
To access the consultation documents and for details on how to respond, please visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/hs2-phase-2b-design-refinement-consultation
We are holding a series of public information events near each of the proposed changes, where members of the project team will be available to help answer questions. For details of the events, please visit www.hs2.org.uk/phase2b.
Copies of the consultation documents are also being made available at a number of public venues in the vicinity of each proposed change. Details of these venues can also be found at www.hs2.org.uk/phase2b.
The website also includes a navigator tool to help identify the location of each of the proposed changes and provide access to detailed plans and visual representations.
If you have any questions related to this consultation, please contact the our Helpdesk on 08081 434 434 or email HS2enquiries@hs2.org.uk at any time.
Publication of consultation summary reports
At the same time as launching the design refinement consultation we have published two reports summarising the feedback received to the working draft Environmental Statement and working draft Equality Impact Assessment Report consultations that we carried out at the end of 2018.
We received almost 40,000 responses to these consultations and we are continuing to take the feedback received into consideration as we further develop the design for Phase 2b.
The two reports summarise the main themes contained in the feedback received and are available via www.hs2.org.uk/phase2b.
Safeguarding update
The Secretary of State is also updating Safeguarding Directions for the Phase 2b route to broadly reflect the land that was included within the working draft Environmental Statement now that we know what land we will likely need to acquire. Changes that we are consulting on that may affect what land is ultimately needed are not included in that update. However, Safeguarding is reviewed throughout the project and is updated when necessary to reflect new land requirements. More information on safeguarding and HS2 property schemes is available at: www.gov.uk/government/collections/safeguarding-information-and-maps-for-hs2