Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of properties required for the development of HS2 Phase 1 have received full compensation in accordance with the Compensation Code.

To date, HS2 Ltd, acting as agents for the Secretary of State, has taken possession of nearly 60sq km of land and paid £1.74 billion for acquisitions in Phase One.

Where land is being acquired under statutory blight provisions, 216 of blight cases (86%) have a ‘full and final’ settlement.

Where land has been acquired through compulsory purchase, compensation claims have been submitted in 460 cases. Many claimants have not requested full and final payment. As of 4 May 2020, HS2 Ltd has received Advance Payment Requests on 313 cases and further compensation claims (in addition to Advance Payment Requests) on 147 cases. Of these 147 cases, 15 (10%) have been settled as a ‘full and final’ settlement. In the other 132 cases, claimants have either reserved the right to make further compensation claims or negotiation continues.

For payments where HS2 Ltd has possessed land temporarily, 246 claims have been submitted. Of those, 136 (55%) have either been paid, or are ready to be paid but rest with the claimants’ solicitors; 31 (13%) cases are going through HS2 Ltd governance in order to make the payment, and 79 (32%) payments are being negotiated between the claimants and HS2 Ltd.