Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many schedule 16 orders to take temporary possession of land and property were issued by HS2 Ltd in (a) 2015, (b) 2016, (c) 2017, (d) 2018 and (e) 2019.

Up to August 2019, HS2 Ltd has served 2,119 such notices:

(a) 0 notices were served in 2015;

(b) 0 notices were served in 2016;

(c) 343 notices were served over 66 locations in 2017;

(d) 1022 notices were served over 141 locations in 2018;

(e) 754 notices were served over 68 locations in 2019 (up to 01/08/19).

Schedule 16 (S.16) of the High Speed Rail Act (London-West Midlands) Act 2017 provides the nominated undertaker (HS2 Ltd) with the ability to temporarily possess land required to deliver Phase One of the railway. As the Act received Royal Assent on 23 February 2017, HS2 Ltd had no powers to serve S.16 notices before this date.