For those landowners and occupiers impacted by HS2 Phase 2B, petitioning is the last opportunity to have your say.
There have been consultations on the draft and final environmental statement which has now been deposited into Parliament, and the resulting Hybrid Bill is now making its way through the legal process that will eventually result in Royal Assent being granted in 2025/2026.
Once granted the Bill will become an Act of Parliament and will give HS2 the rights to acquire land and ultimately build the scheme.
Petitioning forms part of the Hybrid Bill Process whereby affected property owners or occupiers can formally raise their concerns in front of the Select Committee in the House of Commons and potentially the House of Lords (this is not about cancelling the scheme or getting it moved, it is about lessening the impact and doing what one can to mitigate against the proposals).
The reason for this post is to provide a simple guide on the process, what’s involved, what to include and what to expect. The petitioning process is not quick and can be very tiresome, HS2 do not engage until the last minute on issues that have been raised for a number of years.
The petitioning process is as follows; but it is worth noting that if a general election is called we enter a period referred to as Purdah, the petitioning can be put hon hold and as a result pushes back the date of Royal Assent being granted and ultimately everything else thereafter. For example, when submitting Petitions on Phase 2A in January 2017, the hearings in the Select Committee did not take place until June 2018.
Petitioning process
- Submission of Petition – August 2022 (Only those who submitted a petition have the right to be heard in the Select Committee)
- The petition once checked will be published on the Parliamentary website and sent to HS2, who will acknowledge it and state they want to resolve the issues raised
- A Select Committee will then be formed by MPs who will not be conflicted or local to the areas impacted, it will be made up of 4 MPs and Chairman. The Select Committee will be driven along the HS2 route and updated on the scheme to ensure they understand the proposals.
- Once formed the Select Committee will sit for up to 2 months, hearing the petitions in the House of Commons or in some circumstances virtually (this was a result of Coronavirus). The Private Bill Office will contact you about dates and times, these are very rigid, and you will need to be flexible.
- Prior to attending the hearing, the petitioners have to submit their evidence (referred to as exhibits), being the document you will refer to in the hearing. This can be very time consuming to produce and can only include points raised in the original template submitted.
- In the hearing the Select Committee have the power to:
- Recommend or direct amendments to the Bill (such as issues raised by petitioners)
- Recommend or direct that the Government gives commitments to petitioners
These recommendations or directions are known as Assurances and Undertakings and will be published as part of the Hybrid Bill and form part of the Act of Parliament. An example would be to ensure that a severed field can be accessed on completion of the works, if the contractor appointed to build the scheme doesn’t do it, they have then breached an Act of Parliament. In effect these Assurances and Undertakings can have a significant impact on you.
Approximately 130 petitions have been submitted and HS2 will now be seeking to engage with those who submitted them, HS2 will want to reduce the number of hearings in the Select Committee as they take time and preparation, likewise for petitioners. HS2 will not cover the costs of petitioners appointing land agents or solicitors to act on your behalf as you are in effect disagreeing with their proposals.
Prior to the hearing, petitioners and HS2 are required to exchange copies of their exhibits at least two working days by 5pm prior to the hearing. Witnesses or experts can speak and their names and details must be provided when exchanging exhibits.
Owing to HS2 not wanting to be heard in front of the Select Committee, their petitioning team will start to engage and send various emails and letters at all times of day, night, and weekends. This is when the correspondence you receive needs to be looked at properly and carefully; the wording used is not the easiest to understand and can include a lot of legal jargon. The most of this will not be sent until a few days before your hearing, don’t expect to hear from them until then. In a lot of cases Assurances and Undertakings will be made in the corridor of the House of Commons minutes before the hearing, these can also be provided before your hearing. You may find all the issues are resolved before a hearing and you may not be heard, which can be disappointing with the amount of time and cost when booking trains and hotels in London etc.
What to include in your exhibit
As mentioned above the exhibits must be exchanged prior to the hearing, below is an example of what to include:
1 – Name and address
2 – Background
- Type of business/ history
- Details of land being taken permanently and temporarily
- A map of the holding/ property and the impact (a photo may assist)
3 – Issues (summary) – what are the issues and what do you want doing about it? For example: access/ accommodation works/ impact to business/ temporary land take/ permanent land take/ notice periods/ mitigation measures (as mentioned previously you can only detail what was included in the original petition)
4 – Go into more detail for each issue. For example: Access – “Owing to the proposed utility works on field 123 (as outline in blue on the plan (insert an annotated plan) we are unable to access a 30 acre block of grazing that we walk the cows to, we can no longer do this. We request an assurance that access is provided at all times”.
Using the plans published by HS2 is a good way of labelling the areas of concern and can then be referenced to, all the wording and document should be clear, concise and too the point. Do not waffle.
You will never be cross questioned by HS2 (they will use a barrister). However if you are taking too long the Chairman will interject and hurry you along. In their response HS2 will use phrases such as “best endeavours” or “where reasonably practical”; these are loosely worded and must be challenged.
In most cases the Petitioner (or their agent) will speak first and HS2 second. All the hearings are minuted and copies are available a week or so later, if you do not receive the Assurances or Undertakings you believe that were agreed, you may have to cross check the minutes and raise any concerns with the Chairman of the Select Committee.
If you did not receive the Assurances or Undertakings you wanted, you will have an opportunity to undertake the same process in the House of Lords.
The scheme is continually evolving, with certain parts being redesigned. This has already been shown with Additional Provision 1 (AP1) which outlines proposed amendments to the Hybrid Bill. Most amendments are in relation to utilities. There could be further Additional Provisions; each time they make a change another round of petitioning will open. If you do not petition against these, you are in effect agreeing with the proposals.
An example of the Select Committee hearing for HS2 Phase 2A from 2018, is available to watch on this video, which gives a good example of the size of the room layout, number of people and how it plays out on the day of the hearing.
Main take away points
- You can only be heard in the Select Committee if you are “directly and specially affected” by the Bill
- You can only raise issues mentioned in the original petition
- You may only have 30 minutes to be heard
- HS2 will be very last minute in trying to resolve issues
- Be prepared for the hearing and practise presenting this
- Be ready to be bombarded by legal jargon and loosely worded terms
- Try to engage early if possible
- Any changes made will be legally binding
If you would like a free power point template in which to insert your details to use as an exhibit – download the template here.