High Speed Rail (London - West Midlands) Bill - High Speed Rail (London - West Midlands) Bill Select Committee Contents


2  Committee visits

Visits made and proposed

26. We have undertaken six highly informative visits to sites along the proposed route, and to Crossrail, to HS1 in Kent and to the Arup sound laboratory in central London. The visit to Crossrail provided useful background on petitioning processes as well as an opportunity to view a tunnel boring machine on location. The visit to HS1 was instructive as we were able to see, hear and travel on UK domestic high-speed trains and experience a high-speed route in context. Separately, Rt. Hon. Damian Green MP, the Member for Ashford in Kent, gave us an informative briefing on his perception of HS1. The visits to sites along the route assisted us greatly in our understanding of petitioning issues and helped petition hearings to be substantially more productive and efficient.

27. We reiterate our thanks to our parliamentary colleagues who accompanied and guided us on visits, to the petitioners and other local people and businesses who welcomed us warmly notwithstanding their general disquiet about the high-speed railway, and to the team, including Terri-Ann Lovelock from HS2 Limited, who managed our visits, and our driver, Ken Humphries. We appreciate the knowledge, commitment and contribution of parish councils and other local representative groups.

28. Following is a table of the visits undertaken so far. Further visits are planned for after the general election, including three days of visits to Buckinghamshire, which has the longest section of the Phase One route of any county.Table: HS2 Committee visits undertaken to date
Date Visit
8 July 2014Arup sound laboratory
15 July 2014Birmingham Curzon Street to Water Orton and Kingsbury, accompanied by Dan Byles MP and Rt. Hon. Caroline Spelman MP
16 Sept 2014Birmingham Interchange site to Lichfield, accompanied by Rt. Hon. Caroline Spelman MP, Dan Byles MP, Christopher Pincher MP and Michael Fabricant MP
17 Sept 2014Crossrail site at Limmo peninsula, Canning Town
7—8 Oct 2014 South Warwickshire, accompanied by Rt. Hon. Jeremy Wright MP and Mr Jim Cunningham MP, and Mixbury, Oxfordshire
27 Oct 2014South Northamptonshire, accompanied by Andrea Leadsom MP
2 Dec 2014HS1 in Kent
15 Jan 2015Denham, Colne Valley, Harefield and Ruislip, accompanied by Rt. Hon. Dominic Grieve MP and Mr Nick Hurd MP
5 Mar 2015Old Oak Common and Northolt, accompanied by Angie Bray MP, Mr Andy Slaughter MP and Stephen Pound MP



 
previous page contents next page


© Parliamentary copyright 2015
Prepared 26 March 2015