Asked by: Caroline Spelman (Conservative - Meriden)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to his Department's policy paper, UK Airspace Policy: A framework for balanced decisions on the design and use of airspace, published in February 2017, what the timetable is for introducing the proposals in that paper; and what progress has been made on establishing an independent commission on civil aviation noise.
Answered by John Hayes
The government response to the consultation on UK Airspace Policy: A framework for balanced decisions on the design and use of airspace was published on 24 October 2017, together with a suite of related documents detailing the introduction of proposals. The response includes confirmation that an Independent Commission on Civil Aviation Noise will be established by Spring 2018.
Asked by: Caroline Spelman (Conservative - Meriden)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 7 January 2015 to Question 219323, how many hectares of land as mapped in the High Speed 2 Phase One environment statement have been allocated for (a) woodland, (b) wetland and (c) grass and habitat creation.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The number of hectares of land set aside for the various land uses are 522.7 for woodland, 45.7 for wetland and 410.5 for grass and habitat creation.
Asked by: Caroline Spelman (Conservative - Meriden)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of the land due to be compulsorily purchased for High Speed Two is required for (a) construction of the track and associated infrastructure and (b) environment mitigation.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
It is not possible to answer the question as stated. HS2 is an integrated railway that has been designed to avoid and or reduce environmental impacts throughout its development. The approach used to developing this railway has been to fully integrate environmental mitigation into the railway’s design. For example, environmental impacts and mitigations are considered when designing the depth of a particular cutting.
It is therefore not possible to separate the usage of compulsorily purchased land into the two defined categories.
Asked by: Caroline Spelman (Conservative - Meriden)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the Government's latest projected cost is for the London to Birmingham stretch of High Speed 2, with contingency identified separately.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The current estimated cost of Phase 1 of High Speed 2 (London to West Midlands) is £15.65 billion. A contingency provision of £5.75 billion has been set at P95 level. Based on these prices the cost per single track kilometre is £47.56 million for Phase 1, including £80, 000 per kilometre for noise barriers. These figures are in 2011 prices and at the P95 level, meaning that at this early stage there is a 95 percent confidence level that the project can be delivered for this cost.
Asked by: Caroline Spelman (Conservative - Meriden)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the projected cost per kilometre is of the London to Birmingham stretch of High Speed 2; and what the projected cost per kilometre is of noise barriers on that stretch.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The current estimated cost of Phase 1 of High Speed 2 (London to West Midlands) is £15.65 billion. A contingency provision of £5.75 billion has been set at P95 level. Based on these prices the cost per single track kilometre is £47.56 million for Phase 1, including £80, 000 per kilometre for noise barriers. These figures are in 2011 prices and at the P95 level, meaning that at this early stage there is a 95 percent confidence level that the project can be delivered for this cost.