Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by Align, Hydrogeological and Surface Water Risk Assessment for Load Test Piling Location 2, approved in January 2019, and, in particular, its conclusion that there are no historic sources of contamination present at the London Power Tunnels phase 2 construction site, despite it being 500 metres away from a Contaminated Land Special Site.

The Environment Agency (EA) has reviewed the Align Report on Hydrogeological and Surface Water Risk Assessment for Load Test Piling Location 2. This report examines activities associated with HS2 and does not reference the ‘London Power Tunnels phase 2 construction site’, which is a different project south of the river Thames unrelated to HS2.

With respect to the report, the EA is in agreement that there are no historical sources of contamination present at the Load Test Piling Location 2 site. The report does highlight that there are historical sources of contamination present in the wider area of this site, and low-level hydrocarbon contamination was present in groundwater within both the chalk and overlying superficial deposits across the Colne Valley.