Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what alternative noise and environmental mitigation proposals have been agreed by HS2 Ltd and EKFB to the consented scheme on HS2 Phase One at Wendover following recent discussions with local authorities and stakeholder groups.

HS2 Ltd continues to work within the powers of the High Speed Rail (London – West Midlands) Act 2017 and the mitigations specified within it, which were subject to extensive Parliamentary scrutiny in respect of all areas in Phase One.

The approach used for Environmental Impact Assessment and Environmental Assessment is to use worst case scenarios. The HS2 Environmental Minimum Requirements are then in place to allow effective measures to be developed and implemented to further reduce impacts.

Detailed design work is ongoing, and indicative mitigation proposals are subject to approvals through schedule 17 of the High Speed Rail (London – West Midlands) Act 2017. They are made public through this process. Earlier this year, the Wendover Dean Viaduct was the subject of the first such application made and was approved in May 2021, and indicative mitigation proposals for the remainder of works in Wendover will follow in future applications. At Wendover Dean Viaduct, optimisation of the viaduct design since the hybrid Bill has led to an environmentally significant reduction in forecast noise levels which has removed a significant effect reported in the Environmental Statement.