Correspondence published on HS2 environmental impact assessment
2 December 2014
Environmental Audit Committee publishes correspondence from the Government, HS2 Limited and the HS2 Bill Committee on the compliance of the HS2 hybrid bill process with the EU Environmental Impact Assessment directive and the Aarhus Convention.
- Letter from Simon Kirby, Chief Executive of HS2 Ltd, on HS2 environmental impact assessment, 29 October 2014
- Letter from Robert Goodwill on HS2 environmental impact assessment, 5 November 2014
- Letter from Robert Syms MP on HS2 environmental impact assessment, 22 October 2014
- Inquiry: HS2 and the environment
- Environmental Audit Committee
While ‘petitioners’ are able to raise concerns about perceived weaknesses in the HS2 Environmental Statement and the forthcoming Supplementary Environmental Statement, this leaves significant uncertainties concerning the role of the House of Commons itself in considering whether those documents are sufficient overall to discharge the obligations under the EIA Directive and Aarhus Convention. It will be imperative for the House to address this matter, once the Bill Committee has completed its work and the Bill comes forward for Third Reading. In the meantime, the Environmental Audit Committee will continue to monitor developments.
The Committee’s April 2014 report, HS2 and the environment (PDF 611KB), previously identified the absence of a formal Strategic Environmental Assessment process for HS2, and the role of the hybrid bill process in discharging the obligations of an Environmental Impact Assessment.
The Committee concluded as a consequence that
"it is incumbent on the House to keep the scope of the continuing environmental assessment process sufficiently broad … to allow full consideration of the environmental impacts of options still available within a project described in the Hybrid Bill”, and further that “it is important that if HS2 proceeds, the House is able to demonstrate that it has at least fully followed the purposes and processes, to address environmental risks and to prevent or mitigate them, that would be expected of any other development of this scale."
Following correspondence from Cheryl Gillan MP, the Committee wrote to the Transport Minister, the HS2 Bill Committee and HS2 Limited, and has now received responses which it is publishing today. The Minister’s response states that a Supplementary Environmental Statement will be produced and consulted upon and will inform the House at Third Reading of the HS2 Bill, with the House deciding whether to grant HS2 development consent.