HS2 - UPDATE

HS2: The Future

Your Parish Council is working to get the best HS2 mitigation it can for Wendover. We will continue to do this but we also see an important role for the WPC into the future. We’ll be there, helping the community get through the building of HS2. We’ll also be encouraging all of the regulators to keep this project firmly in order. Annoyingly WPC has been denied any place in the HS2 Schedule 17 (S17) planning process. We will not be allowed to fulfil our usual planning role as Statutory Consultees. Buckinghamshire Council are saying no to our involvement while the Minister for HS2 seems to think consultation is still possible. If BC are right there will be no opportunity for the community's voice to influence the S17 planning applications.

Buckinghamshire Council. Responsibility for Enforcement.

It’s important to get all of the processes right as our community is approaching a transition in its dealings with HS2 and its contractors. With the first S17 planning application for Wendover now being considered at Buckinghamshire Council (BC), our Local Planning Authority (LPA), the railway goes, for us all anyway, from theoretical to very real.

It’s a Burden

HS2 gives Buckinghamshire Council a really big job. Not only must they act as the LPA, using the limited powers that Parliament left them with, but they must also ensure that HS2/EKFB stick to the laws of the land when it comes to Highways, Environment and Construction Safety. In addition to all of that they are expected to ensure that the project follows its own set of rules. They were published and presented to Parliament and they became part of the High Speed Rail Act.

A Burden Shared

BC were not given an adequate budget to undertake this policing role. Without doubt BC will need every one of us to help. Reporting HS2’s faults and misdemeanours will probably fall to the community. Below I’ve outlined the channels that you can use to find out about HS2 or to register a complaint about the construction. The Parish Council is there to help you but its vitally important that we all use the HS2/EKFB/BC systems. These public access points are audited and numbers of complaints should trigger remedial action.

Information on HS2 activities is available at:

https://hs2inbucksandoxfordshire.commonplace.is

Complaints and Questions go to...

The HS2 Helpdesk team all day, every day of the year on: Freephone: 08081 434 434 Minicom: 08081 456 472 Email: hs2enquiries@hs2.org.uk Not happy with HS2 Enquiries response? Email: complaints@hs2-cc.org.uk

Buckinghamshire Council Highway & Traffic Issues

Pot holes, mud, flood and blocked drains contact www.fixmystreet.com

Buckinghamshire Council Policy and Actions

Bucks have a HS2/EWR Working Group. You can contact them EWRANDHS2@buckinghamshire. gov.uk

Or contact your BC Councillor.

Tom Walsh Chairman of Wendover PC Planning Committee and Lead on HS2