As expected, after the House of Commons approval of the House of Lords’ minor amendments to the HS2 Bill, it received Royal Assent on 23 February
The Chiltern Society is disappointed that further mitigation was not provided for the Chilterns AONB and the Colne Valley. However, mitigation funds of £3,000,000 for are in place for each area.
Over the last three months, HS2 Ltd has been carrying out borehole evaluations throughout the Chilterns. The results are expected to be available in March. These may result in further changes to the design.
The next stage is for a main contractor to be appointed. They will be responsible for developing a detailed design for each section of the route. Construction work is expected to begin in the summer of 2018.
We would like to thank all of you who have supported our efforts to fight this unnecessary scheme. The Society will continue to monitor what HS2 is doing and to liaise with the HS2 Review Groups for the AONB and the Colne Valley.
