Consultations on Safeguarding and Compensation announced today.

HS2 Ltd have today announced the consultation on land safeguarding and their third consultation on compensation in three years.

The Department for Transport says the compensation proposed would be “significantly beyond statutory requirements”, with Transport Minister Simon Burns saying it would “strike the right balance for local communities and the British taxpayer”.

Maps have been published showing the ‘safeguarded area’, which is also up for consultation. As standard this is 60 metres either way of the centreline of the route, with there being a further “voluntary purchase zone”  in rural areas, which could stretch to 120 metres either side of the tracks. Additionally the government is proposing to pay additional compensation of 10% up to the value of £47,000.

The consultations will run until 31st January 2013, and we believe there will be a set of local road shows, as there were with the main consultation in 2012.

The DfT press notice is here.

The website for the consultations is here. 

Joe Rukin campaign coordinator for Stop HS2 said;

“While we are pleased that after two and a half years, the Government has finally recognised the damage HS2 is causing to communities along the route, we see this as a cynical, uncosted attempt to buy off the opposition to the project, and it will not work. Today, subject to the outcomes of the consultation, the Government has massively increased the overall cost of the HS2 project to even more astronomically unaffordable proportions, whilst still leaving many homeowners in limbo. Simon Burns says that measures strike the right balance for communties and the taxpayer, but the proposals do not seem to provide any provision for loss of commmunity amentities and do not seem to take account of the way in which wider communities will be effected. The previous budget for compensation was £800m, which the leader of Camden Council doesn’t even think will cover the first mile from Euston. What the cost of compensation would be now is anyones guess.”

“We are also astounded at the scale of the ‘safeguarded zone’ which has been announced today and the land take which will be required. It is clear that the environmental damage which HS2 will reap has multiplied significantly today as well. We will encourage people to engage in the consultations, but frankly have no faith in Hs2 Ltd to carry them out properly, as they face a legal challenge in December after the lost two batches of responses from the last consultation and failed to analyse them properly.”

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19 comments to “Consultations on Safeguarding and Compensation announced today.”
  1. 60-120 metres! The building disruption will be well beyond that area, If you live within 5 – 10 miles your gonna get hit just on the commute alone.

  2. Why is paying market value for a home blighted by hs2 called compensation and,what’s worse,called generous.
    Spin,spin and more spin
    I hope our politicians are going to fight for real compensation for this blight or we’ll have to elect some who will

    • Yes John it is spin. It also sometimes borders on dishonesty.

      This morning on CWR there was a guy called Clint or Clinton something from HS2 Ltd who I think is their External Affairs Director ie a spin doctor.

      He said quite clearly that there was the 60 m zone and that on top of that there was a further 120 m of VPZ. There was no mistaking his meaning , compensation was available up to 180 m in total. In fact if you look at the DfT consultation docs the VPZ runs from the centre of the line ie 120 m in total. Either the docs are wrong ( incompetence ) , Clint / Clinton made a genuine mistake ( incompetence ) or there is dishonesty going on.

    • Value of their homes before the line was announced (yes before) and an extra 10%, up to another £47,000 – is that spin

      • You obviously think that’s generous for hard working people who are being forced from their homes and understandably expect as a minimum a similar property if they can find it with all the personal modifications they have paid for in their home.There is no compensation for forced upheaval,stress of moving,loss of community etc.etc.

        I stress they are being forced from their homes and do not believe hs2 is in the national interest

        What do you think they should be compelled to accept?

      • Actually Morris in a way it is.

        The total cost of this “top up”, which legitimately covers stamp duty and legal and moving costs plus something for the fact that people are being turfed out of their homes, is all of about £ 15 million. That is out of a total compensation figure of about £ 1 billion.

        That is a deliberate distraction from the fact that anybody who lives more than 120 meters from the middle of the line has almost no chance of any compensation at all. That is tens of thousands of people who are suffering and will suffer property blight, loss of value, noise and significant disruption over many years of construction. A deliberate attempt to mislead people into thinking that the compensation proposals are fair.

        If the government can’t afford fair compensation, it can’t afford HS2.

        • They will receive the unblighted open market value of the property, AND home loss payment (10% of the value of the property, up to £47,000) AND disturbance costs (such as fees, removal costs and stamp duty on a new property of equivalent value).

          Do you live out side the 120m is that why you are upset

          Again you will not allow this!!!!!!

          • Again , you are missing the point . It’s the people who live beyond 120 m who lose out. 120 m isn’t very far is it ? Usain Bolt runs it in just over 10 seconds.

            Thanks for your concern about my welfare though, much appreciated , but I live a lot further away than that !! I do know quite a few people who live within half a mile of the line though and without any shadow of a doubt they are badly effected .

            Do you think that people who live 150 m , 250 m , 400 m away are unaffected ? Are they just rich , selfish southern softies ?

            And what about you ? You once said you live very close to the line .

            • Yet again kingnewclothes you are using misleading propaganda, you stated that the compensation what all spin but now you saying that the compensation stated above is correct and the package should be extended to people outside the 120m wide corridor. Are you trying to say something or not?

              Yes people living over 120m but the affected is minimal and why should they get compensation.

              John, I think the people running Hs2 action alliance have lost the plot the 25million is pie in the shy, they are acting for a 1000m each side and over tunnels. Why should anyone get compensation if the route in under the house, and please don’t say because of vibration.

              Yes I live within 120m of the proposed route

              Now will i be able to submit three comment is a row or will the moderator stop this.

            • Morris , I’ll try again to explain because I really believe you just don’t understand.

              Even though many would prefer not to have to move, there is decent enough financial compensation for those living very close indeed to the line. I’m very glad for you that you are OK. You will hopefully be able to move out if noise and disturbance etc gets too much for you without loss of value.

              But the 10 % top up in the 60 m zone benefits very few people and so isn’t much of a cost to the government in the scheme of things. That’s why they did it , not spending much money but also creating a soundbite that sounds like they are being generous. That is a type of spin. Do you understand ?

              People who live a bit further away get nothing but many are badly effected and you are overlooking this because of the spin.

              You are simply wrong to say the “affected is minimal” — whatever you mean by that.

            • morris says:
              October 29, 2012 at 4:01 pm

              Morris
              there is a typo in your reply —£25 billion not million
              Where is your evidence that many thousands of homeowners are not being blighted by hs2 because hs2aa has evidence that they are

          • Morris

            I don’t think you fully appreciate the effect of these proposals which is highlighted by HS2 Action Alliance

            ‘ Home owners unfortunate enough to be next to the route of phase one (London to Birmingham) of HS2 will be left more than £25 billion out of pocket by widespread blight the planned line will cause. Using the Department for Transport’s own figures HS2 Action Alliance has calculated that the losses to individuals are likely to be more than the DfT’s claimed benefits of £24 billion (including wider economic benefits) for just phase 1’

            You can find more detail on their website

            • John – yes it was a typo but I stand by my original statement that these figures by Hs2AA are just daft – 172000 properties with 1000m of the route, I agree that this could be correct by Why and how will hs2 affect a property 1km away or even built over a tunnel. Ok what evidence does HSAA have to prove that is figure is 25bm. So you are say that ANY property within 1km should get money? If Hs2aa are basing the 25bm on the house price, you will see that prices close to HS1 and M6toll are still higher than the before the construction of both. Just look at the RICS prices.

              Kingsnewclothes- now properties that are outside the 60m will still get the full unblighted open market ( section 2.18 and 2.19) but again you are trying to spin this in your misleading propaganda.is this payout above the standard compulsory purchase. Additionally there is the standard compensation after a year scheme.

              But again I say are you upset as you live outside the VPL

            • Now I know you are just trying to wind us up ! You cannot possibly be so thick as to think that the damage to people ends at 120 m. Again , don’t worry about me , I am safely away but I know a few people who are very badly impacted by this.

              As for the “standard compensation after a year scheme” , are you talking about Part 1 Compensation ? That doesn’t cover loss of value and couldn’t even be considered for 15 years even for physical effects like the extra noise that they well get .

              You might find it hard to believe but I am not directly involved in HS2AA or StopHS2 so I don’t know any more about the £ 25 billion loss of value figure than you. I’ve seen the same information on their website that you have. I can follow the calculation but have no idea how valid it is.

              One thing is for sure though. The real loss to residents would be a lot more than £ 1 bn.

              There’s another thing I am confident about. The £ 25 bn is no more flakey than the £ 45 bn claimed as “benefits” from both phases of HS2 by the Government.

            • Kingsnewclothes – Now will you admit that the compensation scheme stated is not SPIN but again you are so stupid and blinked not to see fact put in front of your face, again read the compensation section I stated above. I still say the people are over play the so called damages over 120m (if any)

  3. Well that was worth waiting so long for– not!
    My consultation response last year was lost in the post according to hs2 ltd so i shall be asking if they intend to acknowledge receipt of this one and whether they will have a published analysis process that ensures none are missed this time

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