HS2 AND ROCKY LANE

Wendover residents on the HS2 Commonplace emailing list were surprised to receive a communication on Friday 13 August about future earthworks that had actually started two weeks before.

These relate to the section of the line between the Chiltern Tunnel North Portal at Great Missenden and Rocky Lane, Wendover. The Schedule 17 works that Buckinghamshire Council approved on Wednesday 9 June include the Rocky Lane Cutting (see red print bottom left on map). The notice covers “deep excavation, removal and movement of large quantities of soil” at the tunnel portal and “excavating the cutting for the internal haul road and the train line itself” at Rocky Lane.

It is not clear what the current plan is, but we expect that the material excavated will be stored temporarily next to the works until it can be transferred along the haul road to form the Small Dean Embankment, probably crossing the A413 on the Small Dean Viaduct once built.

This puts more pressure on getting the plans approved for the Viaduct, and subsequently building it by moving concrete along the Wendover Bypass and A413 as mentioned in the Wendover Mitigation Action Group report (see page 8). While the design for the viaduct is expected to be submitted in November, the HS2 notification reported that the earthworks commenced on Monday 2 August and will stop at the end of October, before restarting in March 2022.

Questions? Email hs2enquiries@hs2.org.uk

Photo at top shows HS2 supplied map to show the Rocky Lane cutting