Flooding and flood relief is at its highest on many agendas following the wettest January recorded since 1920. It is therefore understandable that, as the route of Phase one of HS2 is planned to cross farmland that currently acts as natural flood protection homes, two MPs are voicing their concern on that may be consequence of the development.
Europe Minister David Lidington warned of the impact on homes along phase one route as former cabinet minister Cheryl Gillan said it was “totally unsatisfactory” that a full assessment of the flood risk had not been carried out.
As HS2 continued to carry out inspections along the complete planned route, a spokesman said the proposed high-speed rail route from London to Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds would be:
“designed to remain operational and withstand just the sort of extreme weather that we have seen up and down the country recently.”
Part of Mr Lidington’s constituency of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire is close to the HS2 route and was flooded following the January deluge. He told Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin:
“You will not be surprised to hear the residents are very fearful that the construction and operation of HS2 across the floodplain close to their homes will add significantly to the flood risk.
“It is indisputable that both construction and operation will require farmland to be taken which for now soaks up surface water and which ought to act as natural flood protection for my constituents.
“People in this part of Aylesbury are sceptical about the assurances from HS2 that they will design in effective flood protection measures.”
Neighbouring Buckinghamshire Chesham and Amersham MP Cheryl Gillian said:
“You begin to worry about the risks associated with the HS2 development to this area. You would have thought that a flood risk assessment was a basic part of any environmental investigation.”
Construction on the first phase – London to Birmingham – is expected to begin in 2017 and be completed in 2026 with the second phase to Manchester and Leeds By 2032-33.