Transport, Environment, Communities & Climate Change Select Committee - Tuesday 21 April 2026, 2:00pm

Transport, Environment, Communities & Climate Change Select Committee
Tuesday, 21st April 2026 at 2:00pm

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Speaking:

Start of webcast

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Cllr David Carroll

1 Apologies for Absence

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Sally Moore

2 Declarations of Interest

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Cllr David Carroll

3 Minutes of the Previous Meeting

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4 Public Questions

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Cllr Chris Poll
Cllr David Carroll
Cllr Thomas Broom
Cllr David Carroll

5 HS2

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Cllr Peter Martin
Cllr Thomas Broom
Mr Richard Barker
Mr Steve Bambrick
Hannah Austin
Rod Black
Daniel Gigg
Rod Black
William Lowe - HS2 Traffic Manager, Central
Mark Clapp, HS2 Project Client
Alasdair Hassan, HS2 Head of Engineering
Julien Diaz - HS2 Senior Environment Manager
David Prys-Jones - HS2 Head of Natural Environment
Duncan Fallon
Joel Sykes - HS2 Senior Engagement & Interface Lead
Simon Matthews - EKFB Interface & Stakeholder Director and Chief of Staff
Cllr David Carroll
Cllr Thomas Broom
Cllr David Carroll
William Lowe - HS2 Traffic Manager, Central
Mark Clapp, HS2 Project Client
Cllr David Carroll
Cllr Clive Harriss
Mark Clapp, HS2 Project Client
Cllr Anja Schaefer
Cllr Justine Fulford
Cllr Caroline Cornell
Mark Clapp, HS2 Project Client
Alasdair Hassan, HS2 Head of Engineering
Cllr Anja Schaefer
Mark Clapp, HS2 Project Client
Cllr Justine Fulford
Mark Clapp, HS2 Project Client
Cllr Thomas Broom
Mark Clapp, HS2 Project Client
Cllr David Carroll
Cllr Peter Martin
Mark Clapp, HS2 Project Client
Cllr Gregory Smith
Cllr Andy Huxley
Mark Clapp, HS2 Project Client
Cllr Anja Schaefer
Cllr Thomas Broom
William Lowe - HS2 Traffic Manager, Central
Cllr Michael Collins
Cllr David Carroll
Mark Clapp, HS2 Project Client
William Lowe - HS2 Traffic Manager, Central
Cllr David Carroll
Cllr Dev Dhillon
William Lowe - HS2 Traffic Manager, Central
Cllr Dev Dhillon
Cllr Thomas Broom
Joel Sykes - HS2 Senior Engagement & Interface Lead
Cllr Thomas Broom
Cllr David Carroll
Cllr Anja Schaefer
William Lowe - HS2 Traffic Manager, Central
Simon Matthews - EKFB Interface & Stakeholder Director and Chief of Staff
Cllr Anja Schaefer
Simon Matthews - EKFB Interface & Stakeholder Director and Chief of Staff
Cllr David Carroll
Cllr Gregory Smith
Simon Matthews - EKFB Interface & Stakeholder Director and Chief of Staff
Cllr David Carroll
Alasdair Hassan, HS2 Head of Engineering
Julien Diaz - HS2 Senior Environment Manager
Cllr Justine Fulford
David Prys-Jones - HS2 Head of Natural Environment
Joel Sykes - HS2 Senior Engagement & Interface Lead
Cllr Caroline Cornell
Cllr Peter Martin
Simon Matthews - EKFB Interface & Stakeholder Director and Chief of Staff
David Prys-Jones - HS2 Head of Natural Environment
Cllr Thomas Broom
Simon Matthews - EKFB Interface & Stakeholder Director and Chief of Staff
David Prys-Jones - HS2 Head of Natural Environment
Mark Clapp, HS2 Project Client
Alasdair Hassan, HS2 Head of Engineering
Cllr David Carroll
Alasdair Hassan, HS2 Head of Engineering
Cllr Thomas Broom
Joel Sykes - HS2 Senior Engagement & Interface Lead
Cllr Anja Schaefer
Julien Diaz - HS2 Senior Environment Manager
Cllr Anja Schaefer
Julien Diaz - HS2 Senior Environment Manager
Cllr Gregory Smith
Julien Diaz - HS2 Senior Environment Manager
Cllr Gregory Smith
Julien Diaz - HS2 Senior Environment Manager
Cllr Michael Collins
Simon Matthews - EKFB Interface & Stakeholder Director and Chief of Staff
Cllr Michael Collins
Cllr Thomas Broom
Joel Sykes - HS2 Senior Engagement & Interface Lead
Duncan Fallon
Joel Sykes - HS2 Senior Engagement & Interface Lead
Cllr David Carroll
Cllr Peter Martin
Cllr Thomas Broom
William Lowe - HS2 Traffic Manager, Central
Cllr Peter Martin
William Lowe - HS2 Traffic Manager, Central
Cllr Peter Martin
Joel Sykes - HS2 Senior Engagement & Interface Lead
Simon Matthews - EKFB Interface & Stakeholder Director and Chief of Staff
Duncan Fallon
Cllr Thomas Broom
Cllr David Carroll
Mark Clapp, HS2 Project Client
Cllr David Carroll

6 Work Programme

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TECCC Work Summary 21.4.26

7 Date of Next Meeting

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Webcast Finished

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Disclaimer: This transcript was automatically generated, so it may contain errors. Please view the webcast to confirm whether the content is accurate.

Cllr David Carroll - 0:00:07

Thank you everybody for joining us. It's a very important meeting today. It's been

webcast and thank you for coming to the Transport and Environment Communities and Climate Change

Committee. Item 1, apologies. Change of membership.

1 Apologies for Absence

Thank you Chairman. We've had an apology from Councillor Arman Allen and Councillor

Sally Moore - 0:00:26

Dev Dillon is substituting for him today. Councillor Penny Drayton is no longer a member

of the committee and Councillor Greg Smith has joined the committee. Thank you.

2 Declarations of Interest

Cllr David Carroll - 0:00:38

Declarations of interest. Tom Dookin round. None at all.

3 Minutes of the Previous Meeting

Minutes of last previous meeting. Any observations? None at all. We've got a

4 Public Questions

public question. Councillor Pole do you want to put your question please?

Cllr Chris Poll - 0:00:57

Thank you very much, which is of high importance to the residents of

Cheddington. You and the officers will have received a submission from the

parish council and some photos that I took in the last few weeks. What these

seek to illustrate is a continuing concern regarding a zebra crossing

which was installed as part of a section 106 agreement with the developer, Persimmon.

I was Parish Council chairman at that time and was, as is usual, not involved in the section 106 process,

although the Parish Council were consulted.

The initial design was suggested to be in the correct position and was subsequently,

yeah, suggested to be in the incorrect position and was subsequently moved by a few metres.

the PC did raise concern at this new location which was noted but ultimately

dismissed and the crossing was installed. The sighting of the crossing is such

that visibility is very poor as can be demonstrated by the remedial works

carried out since installation. I cannot think of another crossing obscured by

tall hedges in such a way anywhere else in my experience. You have the timeline

of events following this. There have been meetings, conversations with both BC Highways and Persimmon

which have always been facilitated but concerns have been dismissed as the crossing passes the

safety audit. Following yet another near miss last month in which a pedestrian was nearly knocked over

sadly her dog was struck and subsequently died by a driver failing to yield. I ask

Buckinghamshire Council look again at the safety of this crossing. I would also ask

that the parish council and local members are consulted and involved in the creation

of any report. Once again thank you for allowing me the time Chairman.

Cllr David Carroll - 0:03:05

Thank you very much obviously we got an answer coming from the cabinet member in some form

whether it be now or written it's up to you.

Cllr Thomas Broom - 0:03:15

Yes, so I think we probably will provide a written response but just in the moment say let's sit down and have a chat about it.

Very happy to listen. I think probably your last round of this was before I was in the portfolio.

So I'm keen to understand what the issue is and let's see what we can do.

Cllr David Carroll - 0:03:33

Excellent, thanks so much for that Chris.

5 HS2

Okay, HS2 is the main event today. We all know in Buckinghamshire it's affected many, many people in many, many ways.

It's been a long -term project, even coming in today it's still going on, the rest of it.

So we've got the privilege of the cabinet member and his deputy with us today.

and we've got various officers from HS2.

So can I ask you all to introduce themselves from the cabinet member,

all the way down, please.

Cllr Peter Martin - 0:04:10

Yes, thank you, Chairman.

I'm Peter Martin, Deputy Cabinet Member for Transport,

with involvement with HS2 and East West Rail for some time.

Thank you.

Cllr Thomas Broom - 0:04:26

I'm the Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Transport.

Mr Richard Barker - 0:04:32

Mr Steve Bambrick - 0:04:33

Good afternoon I'm Steve Bambrick, I'm the Corporate Director for Planning, Growth and

Sustainability and I lead the officer team at the Council.

Hannah Austin - 0:04:40

Good afternoon I'm Hannah Roston, I'm the Service Director for Infrastructure and Major

Projects.

Rod Black - 0:04:47

Good afternoon I'm Daniel Gigg, I'm the Council's Infrastructure Delivery Manager and I lead

the Council's response on transport related nationally significant infrastructure projects.

Thank you.

Daniel Gigg - 0:05:00

Good afternoon, Rod Black from Buckinghamshire Council. I head up the HS2 team dealing with

all highway matters.

Rod Black - 0:05:10

William Lowe - HS2 Traffic Manager, Central - 0:05:12

Good afternoon everyone, my name is William Lowe, I'm the HS2 traffic manager for this

particular area covering Buckinghamshire.

Mark Clapp, HS2 Project Client - 0:05:20

Good afternoon, my name is Mark Clapp, I'm the project client for the Align contract,

but today we'll be representing Align and EKFB.

Alasdair Hassan, HS2 Head of Engineering - 0:05:29

Good afternoon, I'm Alistair Hasson, I'm the head of engineering and environment for HS2,

representing the EKFB part of the project today.

Julien Diaz - HS2 Senior Environment Manager - 0:05:39

Good afternoon, I'm Julien Diaz, senior environment manager for SP2, and I cover this area of the project.

David Prys-Jones - HS2 Head of Natural Environment - 0:05:47

Good afternoon, my name is David Priest -Jones, I am the Head of Natural Environment at HS2.

Duncan Fallon - 0:05:53

Hello, I'm Duncan Fallon, I'm the Head of Stakeholder Engagement for Align JV and we

are the main works contractor responsible for the Chiltern Tunnel and the Conn Valley

Biodat.

Joel Sykes - HS2 Senior Engagement & Interface Lead - 0:06:05

Afternoon everyone, I'm Joel Sykes, I'm the Senior Engagement and Interface Lead for HS2

and I oversee the central section of HS2 between Warwickshire and the edge of London.

Simon Matthews - EKFB Interface & Stakeholder Director and Chief of Staff - 0:06:15

And finally, I'm Simon Matthews, Interfacing Stakeholder Director for EKFB, covering the

section from Wendover through to Tewestern.

Thank you very much.

Cllr David Carroll - 0:06:26

This will be doing in three parts.

First can I ask the cabinet member to introduce the report with his deputy, please.

Cllr Thomas Broom - 0:06:48

So obviously as the chairman has already said, the HS2 is one of a number of major infrastructure

projects that we are playing host to in Buckinghamshire. I think it's fair to say that HS2 is probably

at the top of the list in terms of the overall impacts that it's having.

Although in comparison to some historic points I think you've probably managed

to slip into number two slot in terms of villainy with the public, which I'm sure

everybody is relieved thanks to the efforts of East West Rail. But it is

still a very significant project that has a very long tail in the county and

that's one of the things I think that I want to get on to a little bit later but

realistically we've got a project that's impacting the county in terms of

obviously the the line of route itself and the very large number of HGVs that

are moving in and out of the county and we we've also had a number of unexpected

impacts for example the closure of certain roads on which we'd had

assurances that there would not be closures etc. Now I think we appreciate

at the council that a project as large and complex as this is going to encounter

some issues and is going to have to move some things around and change and we do

appreciate the fact that HS2 has always been willing to come to meetings like

this and actually provide people who can who can answer the questions but it is

an ongoing concern in a number of parts of the county that we we just even even

sort of however long into this we are ten years more there are a number of

elements that we still just haven't quite got right and I appreciate that

there's going to be some information that the HS2 team is going to give us

today they're going to talk about some of the updates and hopefully give us a

of detail when it comes to reset and what that's going to mean for the near

future. So I think from my perspective we need to look at what's going on in

the county at the moment and some of the issues that we currently face, what the

implications are in terms of how the project is changing under reset and then

looking into the future we've got the the next steps of sort of railway systems

operator and how that installation is going to go, how the testing is going to

go and then finally really into the legacy of HS2 in the county, landscaping

taking us forwards and how the county is going to look when the project is

finally delivered. So I appreciate that I'm probably I'm boiling that down to a

fairly simple summary of what is a very complex set of issues but I think that's

That's what we're really looking to get out of the session today.

And obviously members of the committee who want to jump into the details of all elements of that.

But I think we are also keen to hear from HS2 and particularly any update you can give us on the impact of reset.

Thank you for that.

So that's for the introduction.

So who's going to go first?

Cllr David Carroll - 0:10:09

taken on this. The members already had the presentation in a form so

who's going to start with this presentation?

I think that will be me Chairman.

Okay.

William Lowe - HS2 Traffic Manager, Central - 0:10:24

So, right, first slide up please is myself just to talk through briefly in terms of

reset but also parliamentary reports. What I hope to do is to give you a little

bit of information on the reset, what it is, where we are on that journey and

importantly what that means to yourselves and your constituents.

Fundamentally reset is about how we deliver this railway for the

lowest reasonable cost and indeed by the earliest practical date. I'm going to

start by saying this is not at the expense of your residence and I know

talk is cheap and you will judge us on what you see through the delivery but

that is a that is an absolute requirement which comes from the top.

Now after a history of delays and cost overruns on HS2 Mark Wild who was the

CEO of the Crossrail programme was brought in to look at HS2. Mark was largely

credited with turning around a struggling programme of works, complex

programme of works to deliver what is now the operational Elizabeth line. And Mark

came in and he set up two key elements. One is reset which I will come on to in

a minute but the second was the bridge year. Now the bridge year was us focusing

very much on productivity and safe productivity over the past 12 months to

make sure that whilst we were looking at the reset we were not distracted from

continuing to deliver, understanding and recognising the impact which has just

been described that we recognise we are having on local communities. So Mark's

vision was for four key work streams. The first of those work streams was putting

Mark Clapp, HS2 Project Client - 0:12:19

the programme back in sequence. So it is a complex programme and given a number of

scheduled challenges I think it is fair to say that when we look not just at the

civil engineering but also at the rail systems and the station works we'd found

ourselves out of an efficient delivery programme. Things weren't fitting where

they should and the result was that we were impacting one another in terms of

how we move forward. The second was re -evaluating the contracts, looking at

the commercial arrangements but importantly understanding how we as HS2

could better incentivize the supply chain to deliver better cost control and

more productivity. The third of our challenges from Mark was looking at

transforming HS2 as an organisation. HS2 started out as a business that was

delivering physical works but it was also setting requirements. The

engineering element was first and foremost in many areas and what Mark

understood was that we need to move towards that delivery footing

increasingly as part of this reset exercise. And the fourth and final key

element was evaluating how we improve the transparency and the collaborative

oversight with the Department for Transport, another important stakeholder

for us within the business. Now I'm not sure how much detail I'm going to be

able to give you but a key requirement of reset is that we have a an agreed

clear set of ranges for both schedule and cost agreed with government and as

per the Secretary of State's statement back in March which followed the

publication of the HS2 six -monthly report she confirmed that those ranges

were not going to be published at this point in time and if you will bear with

me I'll give you some understanding of why that is. HS2 has been challenged in

terms of its schedule and one of the key challenges that has come to the cost

element is the design speed. The railway currently set or planned to run trains

at 360 kph. The Secretary of State has asked Mark Wilde prior to summer recess

to look at what the implications would be for reducing that operating speed to

320. Now that doesn't sound a great deal but actually the the areas of work that

needs to be undertaken and again just to reiterate that prior to summer recess

means that we have to look at numerous assets in terms of the wider programme.

Not so much the civil engineering, the civil engineering now is the die is cast

and what we are building we are building. But I think what I can say and again the

intent here is that Bucks and the area yourselves and your residents sit in

living remains on our critical path because we need this area to deliver the test train

operation which is a requirement for us to go to passenger service. So there is no impact,

no further impact on your residents other than as we've said the reset is here, there

has been further delay and those delays we are now as part of reset looking to move to

stem the flow and very much to re -baseline. So re -baselining exercise

started just over a year ago and will run for another 12

months. With the baseline and with those schedule and cost ranges we move to a

place where we have a clear plan for which to deliver not just the civil

Engineering Works but also the operational railway. Now in late 25 Mark

delivered the reference case to government and that reference case

identified outline plan for how we would get ourselves back onto a track which

would enable us to look at the getting the building blocks back in place for

the entire programme, how we would look to go about the commercial settlement piece, how

we would look to re -incentivise the supply chain and also how we would look to move back

office functions within the HS2 team into delivery focused roles. We now look forward

to 2026 and we need to deliver our baseline. We need to be clear on our

contractual relationships and make sure those incentivisations are in place and

we need to learn lessons from Crossrail. One of the lessons that was taken from

Crossrail stemmed from trying to operate working groups for the civil engineering

teams alongside the what's commonly known as mechanical, electrical and

public health fit out. People doing different jobs in the same space created

significant delay and added substantial cost to the to the out -turn. Mark has

come in and determined that there will be a clean break between the

demobilisation of the civil engineering contractors and the rail systems

contractors. From a civil engineering perspective we remain at peak

construction particularly on the EKFB stretch and that hopefully you know will

not be a surprise to you. The impacts of construction works will continue for

some time but and this is an important but at a point where the rail systems

contractors come in there will be a notable reduction in the visibility of

operations of the build. Why do I say that? So construction is based out of a

significant number of compounds up and down the route. It's about building the

earthworks embankments on the side of the rail line itself. It is very visible.

Once systems contractors move in they very much concentrate within the rail corridor

and access to the trace will be restricted to a far smaller number of compounds than

are currently in use.

Again what's really important to say is that because of our need to get test trains up

and running and because of our reliance on this area this remains a key priority

area for HS2. In terms of construction in year there's been really positive

movements and you know in terms of earthworks EKFB have had another

record -breaking year. Circa 70 % of earthworks across the whole route are

now complete and about 70 % of the steel work has also now been completed

again across the whole length of route. So we are not where we want to be and

unfortunately we have been here for longer than was originally planned. But

what we do have is courtesy of the bridge year we have delivered more

effectively for less. We have delivered the key milestones in year more safely

and that's a really important point for us as a as a delivery programme and we

have delivered it for the annual budget that was set for us. The Secretary of

State unfortunately did say with her statement she would not commit to the

ranges and for that reason Chairman I cannot give you when rail systems will

mobilise and unfortunately I can't tell you when the first train will run. But

what I can say, what I can say, I can see the head shaking unfortunately it's what

I can say is that HS2 have made commitments and those commitments will

not be impacted by the reset. Okay we understand the requirement to engage for

us to deliver on our commitments of environmental mitigation and indeed for

us to run with the requirements of the undertakings and assurances. That will

continue. Just to close on this section what I'd like to say is that we are

absolutely clear that HS2 is not here to deliver in spite of the people of

we want to continue to work with you and we will continue to be as open and

transparent with yourselves and indeed your constituencies as we are able to.

So I don't know whether or not you want to field questions at this point or

whether I go on to cover progress Mr Chairman. Some hands have gone up already

Cllr David Carroll - 0:22:07

Cllr Clive Harriss - 0:22:11

Councillor Harris, Councillor Cappanell. Thank you very much Chairman. You say you're reducing the speed so presumably that means the engineering works be a lot simpler because you're not worried about the speed.

Does this mean it could run TGV or any of the other existing rolling stock within Europe?

Mark Clapp, HS2 Project Client - 0:22:27

So I need to be clear it is something that we've been asked to look at so the decision has not been made.

360 would have been the fastest operating speed of anywhere in the world for an equivalent.

So answer to your question, yes it would be comparable with the likes of TGV and clearly there are risk reductions that come off of the back of using tried and tested technologies.

Caroline.

Cllr Anja Schaefer - 0:22:59

My mind is sort of off -field one. Where you cross over with East West Rail?

Cllr Justine Fulford - 0:23:02

Cllr Caroline Cornell - 0:23:04

East West Rail is going to put in a train maintenance depot. Have you got a train maintenance depot

and would it be possible to share with East West Rail at the crossover?

Mark Clapp, HS2 Project Client - 0:23:16

So we have a maintenance depot at Calvert. We have a maintenance depot at Calvert.

I'm going to unfortunately my area of focus is indeed aligned so are you able to jump in please Alistair?

Alasdair Hassan, HS2 Head of Engineering - 0:23:30

Yeah quite happy to take that question. So we have two depots on the HS2 network.

We have the infrastructure maintenance depot at Calvert which is where we will maintain the

infrastructure from. We also have the rolling stock up at Washford Heath

which is on the outskirts of Birmingham which is where the rolling stock will be

maintained.

Cllr Anja Schaefer - 0:24:00

I'll just want to catch up on a couple of points of clarification that from your report

First of all, what do we mean or what do you mean by delivering baseline? I'm not sure

I fully understood that. And the second question is about further delays. That's probably the

more substantial question. And you did say there will be probably no delays to when the

thing will start to run. But quite frankly, to most residents of Buckinghamshire, they

are probably completely indifferent to when this thing will run because they have no option

of joining or indeed leaving the train anywhere else, anywhere in Buckinghamshire. So I think

they will be a lot less concerned about when the first trains will run, but when the last

lorries will leave. So I think that's a big difference. And when you said further delays,

I think they might ask how much further. So I'm thinking about in my own ward, that is the Buckingham

Ward right in the north of the county, which is, you know, that's Westbury and to Weston, and they've

almost reached the point of saying we don't care any, well they do care, but the only thing they

care about at this stage is for the thing to stop, to finish, you know, the works to

be over. That's all they care about. And I, when I speak to people across the rest

of Buckinghamshire in Great Missnun, in Wendover, in Waddesdon, in Steepleclade, and again,

the thing is we just want to know when the works will stop and when we can have our roads

back and when we can get the mitigation for all the concern and all the

disruption it's caused. So if you could, sorry I had to set that context but I

really felt I needed to say that, but just what are we what are we talking

Mark Clapp, HS2 Project Client - 0:26:16

about in terms of further delays? Okay so let me talk first if I made to the

baseline. So the baseline is about us having a credible plan which enables us

to deliver not just the civil engineering work,

which is the key element for yourselves and your residents,

but it is about how we deliver operational railway.

So the baseline will be a schedule, which is fully costed,

which enables us to be held to account for that delivery.

Okay, so that is something which will be published

by Mark Wild to government at the end of the reset period. So that is in spring of 27 there

will be a submission from our CEO to government which lays that out. Again Mark recognised

that we couldn't just wait for the time we needed to deliver hence the introduction of

bridge year which was really driving the focus on construction and making sure

that we had the cheques and balances in place to deliver optimum throughput of

predominantly earthworks I think in this area but of course you've got some

significant viaducts as well all of which has contributed. I fear I'm going

to fall short of your your second question which is how long and I have to

refer to the fact that we wait for Secretary of State to confirm the range and it's on

the back of that that we will have a clear plan as to where we are required to finish

within. Reset is about the earliest practical finish date. It's when can we get the building

done to enable a mobilisation of a rail systems contract or contractors. So I

can't commit to timelines at this point in time for which I apologise. When I

talk about additional delays we have been in this county for longer than was

originally planned absolutely okay and for that I can only apologise but I'm

those sound hollow words to your residents who are living through the

vehicle movements. From a civil engineering point of view we are in a

different place and again we will be judged ultimately on history but also I

hope what comes next. EKFB will be opening more roads this year in their

section then they close. Very small olive branch but again an important focus on

where we are. When we go through the progress slide you will see where a line

are. I can speak at length for a line I will do my best on on eKFB with

support from colleagues around the table but eKFB are in a much different place

to where they were 12 months ago. We recognise there have been impacts and

there continue to be impacts. But we need to deliver the civil engineering works as

efficiently and safely as we can because it's that which gives the springboard for the rail

systems contracts and the systems contracts will then enable obviously the trial operations

of the railway. Okay, that's Thomas Peter.

Cllr Justine Fulford - 0:30:13

Yeah I noted your commitment to delivering on your commitments and

undertakings and the assurances you've previously given to the community. One of

was that you wouldn't have dual road closures and the Lee is heading for a

second dual road closure, two -week road closure of Rocky Lane before Boward Lane

or Leather Lane have been reopened so we've hoped that that could be avoided

but also have you can you give assurances to the rest of the community

in the north of the county that that won't be happening elsewhere in the

this is the second time that we'll have that dual road closure. So my

Mark Clapp, HS2 Project Client - 0:30:57

commitment is we understand what we have signed up to but we also have a

clear mandate from government which is to deliver these works in the most

efficient way. Leather Lane closure I know was extended to a 14 month period

closure to deliver the green bridge there. I can't give a blanket commitment to we will

not look at each element in turn but we have to go through necessary approvals processes.

It's not just an HS2 decision to say this is how we want to do this Councillor and I

I think that the important thing here is that we try to find the optimum way through.

In short, I can't give a blanket commitment to there will be no dual road closures, but

absolutely our start point is we do not want to be closing two roads concurrently and we

need to ensure that we have explored all options before we make the approach, which is what's

happened in the case of Boward Lane with Leather Lane.

Thomas and Peter, Linguaid. Thank you, Chair. So I completely understand

Cllr Thomas Broom - 0:32:18

some of the reasons you've set out for it involving, you know, you need some input from

the Secretary of State, but a lot of that was very woolly, to say the least. You know,

if you can't give us a timescale of when things are going to be moving forward, you know,

Can you at least give us a timetable of when we're going to have a timetable?

When are we actually expecting to hear from the Secretary of State that allows for us

to understand when that's going to be?

A point of clarification on something you said about when you were talking about reset,

you were talking about the previous 12 months and then you said something about the next 12 months.

So is reset a two year process with a parliamentary report in the middle of it?

And how does that potentially impact?

Following on from that, how is all of this going to be factored into mitigation for the communities that you're already affecting?

And if you're adding a two year delay, well reset happens.

In order to make the rest of the project move at a different pace or in a slightly different direction.

what structured framework have you got in place for understanding any additional impact caused by

reset and then how that is going to be mitigated and I think it as I say I do understand that the

project is put in a position where it's a little bit stuck between two masters and a little bit

between the past and the future but what you just said about well I acknowledge

that we have committed to certain things but then the government might just tell

us to do something else I mean that that does rather sound like everything you've

agreed to already is now back on the table and that any previous agreement or

assurance could be ripped up because of an action that the government decides to

take and I think we definitely need clarity on that. Okay so my day -to -day role, I'm slightly

concerned that we are going to go through elements here which are going to be covered

Mark Clapp, HS2 Project Client - 0:34:24

in the later presentation so I think there's just mindful of the concern about the time.

We do want questions, this is the old point about this meeting to have questions. And

that's fine Chairman, if that's where we want to go then we can do that. But we will go

after this that's fine carry on so number one my substantive role is

delivery of the aligned contract okay and this is not me washing my hands of

the fact we've been asked to come and talk to you about reset and that is what

I am trying to do to the best of my knowledge the reality of this is that

the there is clearly a government involvement here which I cannot speak to

and I will make no attempt to do so.

Reset in answer to your question is a two -year exercise,

so Mark set that out just over 12 months ago now,

so that will conclude in the spring of 2027.

But for reset to happen alongside ongoing production

was a key focus for us,

and that is why I can say wholeheartedly

that we have driven really hard both of the civils contracts through the Buckinghamshire

area be that a line or indeed EKFB. The apology that I gave earlier was about the fact we

have remained in this county for longer than was anticipated when we started construction

in 2020. I am not trying to hide from that on the contrary we recognise that and my hope

expectation is that you are seeing us step up in terms of the engagement so

the okay so Peter's shaking his head so I understand that Peter but I look at

the pothole fund which has been extended by another year I look at the additional

Seff and Bleff fund elements that are coming through they are probably small

beer in terms of what we are looking here but ultimately we are trying to

deliver a railway through your communities and unfortunately it's a challenge. The delivery

is a complex undertaking.

Before that you'd say about our communities, if not anybody of our communities, we're not

Cllr David Carroll - 0:36:49

benefiting from it whatsoever. I'm a Councillor for Ellsborough and they've gone through so

much pain, we cannot believe. So this will go down in history as you will not forget

all this. So Peter.

Thank you, Chairman. I absolutely agree with what you say. It's not for the benefit of

Cllr Peter Martin - 0:37:06

Buckinghamshire. Quite the contrary, actually, it's for our huge disadvantage and inconvenience.

Our role in the project is simply to reach for our wallets, take out a load of money

and pay tax so that the project can be funded. And we're paying your salaries as part of

that, so you're not doing us a favour. Anyway, I find it absolutely astounding after the

project's been running for so many years that we're now trying to re -establish a baseline

for the project. It just seems incredible. We've spent billions of pounds and we still

don't know where we are. I find that absolutely incredible. But Mark, you talked about the

delay to baseline and the fact that you wanted a clean break between the civil engineering

work and the rail systems. One of the concerns that we've had and we've expressed it repeatedly

to HS2 is that we believe there needs to be good handover between the civils team and

the rail systems. We've seen it before at the start of the project when the enabling

works contractors didn't hand over to the civils contractors and we had chaos

for a while. There was no community engagement, the new people on a line and

EKFP didn't know the area, they didn't know the people, they didn't know the

organisations. We had chaos. So having a clean break, how are you going to manage

that with good communication and engagement? So again there are a couple

Mark Clapp, HS2 Project Client - 0:38:45

things to come back. Number one my apologies in terms of the benefits to

communities. Number two let's come to Peter. So the the re -baseline again has

come very much that the clean break as we call it comes off the back of

experience from from Crossrail. It was not part of the original plan okay and

So learning lessons for how we can deliver more quickly there is a view

that that is done by having that that break between the two sets of

individuals. In terms of the handover we recognise the failings of enabling works

and the handover there and HS2 recognises that we have a significant

part to play in making sure that the

local community intelligence that has

been built up by the contracting

organisations and by the HS2 team is not

lost so that we are not starting from a

blank sheet and that is something which

again is being considered as part of

this route map for how we get go

forward. So again the enabling works hand

over to Main Works was not done in a way that we would look back on and say there

are no lessons to learn on the contrary there are lessons to learn and we

recognise that.

Great. Thank you chair my question really relates to environmental

Cllr Gregory Smith - 0:40:24

mitigation so I'm wondering if I perhaps thought to hold on until later in the

meeting.

Thank you Chairman.

Cllr Andy Huxley - 0:40:39

Mark, we were told at the outset about the project was going to deliver 20 minutes saving

on travelling from London to Birmingham.

That went out of the window, then we were told that it was an under capacity situation.

that went out of the window. I mean how much can we believe of what you say and the government

say in respect to future developments on this project?

Mark Clapp, HS2 Project Client - 0:41:12

I have a briefing note here. I can talk to you about what is on the briefing note. My

Unfortunately my view is that we have never communicated that robustly enough.

The West Coast Main Line is the most used mixed freight passenger railway line in Europe

and because of that there are capacity challenges.

That is not my supposition, that is fact.

and so the HS2 is designed to take more passengers from that to enable more

freight to run to remove the pressure there. I'm not going to tell you

you need to believe me, my ask is that you judge on what you see and what

is in train at the moment is significant delivery which has been

delivered within budget within the last 12 months on programme. So the bridge

year has delivered what we set out to deliver for the money we set to deliver.

That is not where we were in 2020 and so I recognise that you know we have fallen

short and I understand therefore your question. I can't respond in

any other way than we recognise that we have not done what we should have done

and understand the responsibility going back to the comment made about yes you

know my salary, the salary from colleagues here is paid by taxpayer.

That is a responsibility which I am indeed the team take incredibly

responsibly. That is not something that is lost on me but you

only have my word for it as I sit here and look you in the eye. One more

question then we're moving on to the rest of the presentation. This is a sort of

Cllr Anja Schaefer - 0:43:26

follow -on from the question about the lane closure or dual lane closures but

also about the working with Buckinghamshire Council and so it's a

and at Buckinghamshire Council and a party who is not in the room today and those will be the

constructors of HM, of the prison in Grendan Underwood. Now Grendan Underwood and the Claydens

but Grendan Underwood in particular is another place that has been very badly affected. They are

very concerned about the road, the handover there, so that we're not suddenly seeing multiple closures

because of HS2 work still going on and the prison work having started.

They are also, and that is why I am directing this also at our colleagues from Buckinghamshire

Council because clearly there is an important coordinating role that highways have to play

with this.

There is also a question around the additional road damage.

For those of you who don't know the area, it's one of those thinly populated areas in

the northwest of the county, roads that were never meant to take a lot of HGV traffic and

they have suffered very badly. Some of us know the damage that was done on the road

between Steeper Clayton and East Clayton. That was horrendous but I think that was probably

east -west rail. It's an example of these are not roads that are designed to take the traffic.

We've had situations in some of the villages in the north where with various

bits of construction, I think it was East West Rail and HS2 at the same time,

where the residents of Quaint didn't know which way they were supposed to

leave their village on any given morning for a few weeks. So what I

want from you, I think, is a reassurance that the parties that are around the

able today will make sure that you work together and with the construction of the prison to

make sure that the inevitable further disruption to those communities is handled properly and

is minimised as much as possible. So Brendan Underwood don't find themselves suddenly with

no way of leaving their village for example.

Cllr Thomas Broom - 0:45:58

Yeah, so obviously there is a bit of a differential between the projects because HS2 has its own

Act of Parliament and doesn't need to consult us quite so much as a conventional construction

project. I mean, this is a conversation I've been having certainly since I came into post

with Greg Smith, the local MP, who's obviously been fighting against the prison for donkey's

this point. But this element of additional projects adding additional

strain is something that we discuss quite regularly. We as Bucks Council will

attempt to coordinate that as much as we can but as I say you probably have to

talk to some of the chaps from HST because we very often get road closures from HST

that we don't particularly want and don't get very much notice of and

and indeed on occasions where we are in fact reversing a very long standing

commitment. Um, as was the case, I think on Rocky lane. Um, so,

uh, yes, we will, we will play our role in coordinating it.

We should have a little bit more control over the prison because it will simply

be going through the end process, uh,

rather than sort of having quite the same powers as HS two.

Um, but as they say, that's, that's something we've been,

We've been talking to Greg Smith as a local MP for a long time on the prison issue

And I know that he's raised the the issue of not giving these projects additional powers

I think in in the Commons, which is really really important

but

As as for as for how HSU

Interacts with that prison project. I'm not sure if we've had I knew we've certainly discussed internally

I'm not sure if we've had a conversation with HST yet about

urging them to have those conversations.

And we certainly will be reaching out to the Ministry of Justice to do the same.

But I think a lot of that burden, because HS2 doesn't really have to come through us for this,

HS2 needs to talk to MOJ and MOJ needs to talk to HS2.

I'm saying MOJ, but it will be whoever is actually doing the work on the ground.

You got all the answers?

William Lowe - HS2 Traffic Manager, Central - 0:48:13

So, some answers. So answering the question directly, yes we have our coordination with

the MOJ and their contractors, LOR and MACE. That's been conducted probably since the beginning

of this year, so we've shared forward programmes with the MOJ project and vice versa and we're

process of ongoing coordination as the year progresses obviously noting that

our peak in sort of the civils construction in that particular area

will have tailed off potentially and then there's the sort of main works

construction for the prison but yeah I can assure you that those conversations

have taken place. I just want to refer back to your first question as well

I might have misheard but do you cover the Tewestern and Westbury Parish?

Okay so a bit of good news, we have the Tewestern overbridge structure that's opening this Friday

and the 8422 structure that's opening in quarter three and as far as we're concerned so far

that all the roads within that delivery area

will have been complete this year.

Thank you.

No problem.

One last question from Mike and then we'll move on.

Cllr Michael Collins - 0:49:39

Good afternoon, I...

What is the real cost of the project?

Tens of thousands of man -hours are being lost

because of a plethora of reasons.

Costs that individuals are picking up, not HS2,

through loss of income, caused by delays,

ordinary tradespeople, for example, two of my sons have their own businesses,

both in the trades, I hope with the help of their accounts.

And the impact that it has on the delays, whether it be traffic delays or whatever,

is substantial.

So the cost of this project is in fact far, far greater than ever,

the government would like to admit, and for that, HS2 would like to admit.

It is the general public, it is our residents,

It is our people that are missing our appointments that are actually paying the price for this project.

Anyone can answer that?

I'm sorry, I'm not sure what the question is.

It's a statement.

The cost. I think it was a statement. I think it was about the cost.

And I'm not in a position to comment on the programme cost as a whole.

Cllr David Carroll - 0:50:44

Okay. Okay, can we just...

Well, it should have been the needs of the residents.

Okay there's lots of costs okay can we move on to the rest presentation.

Mark Clapp, HS2 Project Client - 0:50:55

So we'll do a quick works update.

So first slide please.

So we're going to talk obviously about Align and EKFB.

Align covers from London Borough of Hillingdon Harville Road up to just north of Leather

Lane which we've talked about briefly before.

and EKFB then run from Leather Lane up to Turwestern. You will see there the

brief breakdown of responsibilities. Aligned predominantly is the Colne Valley

Viaduct and the Chiltern Tunnels with the associated ventilation shafts and EKFB

of course are running with a number of viaducts, significant structures in their

West Rail at the same point. Next slide please. So what was hopefully going to be

good news storey but I mean it's all relative isn't it the line are well

progressed and I think one of the things we have here is is a contrast between

where EKFB and Align are in their respective deliveries. The main viaduct

works are complete and the main Chiltern tunnels are complete. We have now signed

off substantial completion of all of the ventilation shafts on a line and the

works that start at the Chiltern Tunnel North portal and run north are well

progressed. There's about 550 ,000 cubic material earthworks to be shifted over

the next earthwork season. And Tilehouse Lane bridge which is down by the

Amersham ventilation shaft, we've got the North Portal, Tylhouse Lane and

Leather Lane Bridge. Next slide please. So these are actually photos, they are not

artist impressions, they're not AI generated and that just reinforces that

you know construction has been delayed but it is making good progress and

structures are completing and you can see there the Con Valley Viaduct in its

its natural environment as it were. Next slide please. This really was designed

just to show what the artists impressions were and what has been

delivered against that. Again depending on what we're trying to look for here it

shows that on a line the construction process is well progressed and we are

very much now looking at what comes next and how we can move on to the next

stage. The one for me most striking there is the amortisation ventilation shaft

which I know involved a lot of discussions with council officers in the

early days and what we have there now certainly to my mind reflects what we

set out to deliver back at the start. Next slide please. So in 2026 there's a

completing the South Heath Cutting works with the three associated structures GMI 12, GMI 2 and the

Leather Lane structure. We are moving to reinstating land that has been taken over with Schedule 16

consent for temporary access and so we are increasingly seeing land returned to to its

original state. Allied to that at Chalfont St Peter the temporary access road will be removed

this year so that was one that was put in place to avoid us running

significant numbers of vehicles past both the Roberts Wood School and the

Epilepsy Society and we are also looking now at how we might best remove the

temporary access road at Chalfont St Giles. Key focus for us this year will be

the MEP fit out, mechanical, electrical and public health fit out. That is

associated with the five shafts and indeed the two portal buildings. That is

works that will take place predominantly inside buildings and again from an

aligned perspective therefore it should be far less visible to local residents.

If we can move on please for EKFB. EKFB had a record -breaking year last year

which will come with a small consolation I know, but we are at pig production with EKFB and the

earthworks continue at pace. Significant fired up moves both with Smalldean and Wendover Dean,

the Stoke Mandeville relief road you can see there up and running and you've got various

footbridges that are coming forward. Sheep House Wood back mitigation structure again

has been very much in the press but really good progress being made. Earthworks this

year will be slightly less than next year I believe, I think 7 .4 million was delivered

last year, approximately 6 .2 million metres cubed of material to be moved this year.

Next slide please. There you go, so 6 .2. Again, I go back to more roads opening this year

than closed which will be a small consolation but it's an important

direction of travel for us as a programme of works and indeed we're looking to

complete the sheep house wood back mitigation structure as we go. Tree

planting and landscaping and I know Councillor Smith you were talking about

environmental mitigation there we will come on to that there is a significant

focus on again not just the grey the concrete but it is the topsoiling it is the tree planting

and making sure we support that but there'll be more to come later in the presentation on that.

And with the next slide I think please we'll pass on to William.

William Lowe - HS2 Traffic Manager, Central - 0:57:18

Thanks Mark thanks for that comprehensive run through of a

project update. So I know we did introductions some time ago so I'll just

introduce myself again. I'm William Lowe, I'm the traffic manager for HS2 in this

area. I am actually re -wide covering a line on EKFB but keeping things specific

to this committee meeting. So the presentation really has not changed all

that much from last year and if I've done my research correctly I think

Councillor Cornell was on that on that panel and but obviously for the chair

and co -chair I'll give an update in terms of traffic management coordination and logistics

and also highways opening update which to be fair Mark has pretty much covered anyway.

So covering this slide we hold regular traffic liaison group meetings,

they're monthly that includes stakeholders such as turns by police,

Ambulance Service and the like and Bus Service Officers representing both the Council and

occasionally Bus Operators.

Moving on to Weekly Pre -Apps, so we have Pre -Application Meetings between HS2 Officers, Buckinghamshire

Council, EKFB and also Align, which is with their Consents Team, so in Buckinghamshire

that they represent both contractors. I would confidently say that we do a lot of

engagement with the council, something that I'm particularly proud of in this

team and my offices that we do engage heavily and that is reflected as well on

the joint venture contractors for this area. So the main aim of that really is

to minimise disruption to the local community.

We appreciate that there's a lot of frustration

with the works that are ongoing in the area,

but that is forefront of our minds

when we're engaging with these weekly pre -app meetings

and ongoing engagement.

So we provide regular presentations to members

and community engagement groups,

um possibly yourself Councillor Smith and looking around the Calvert area we have regular meetings

with Councillor Marn for example um so that's a good use of that collaborative working relationship

particularly for the car meetings so that's um that's one prime example that that I'd certainly

refer to um but I'm sure Joel will come on to others in his presentation later on.

And then better get engagement, so this is sort of again having an open and collaborative

working relationship with the local authority, principally to minimise that disruption where

we can.

We try and do as much early engagement as possible, be it on road closures, temporary

highways, that sort of thing, although we've come over the hill with temporary highways

but certainly road closures coming forwards, that is one key focus for our team moving into 2026.

And we're constantly monitoring traffic management as well, so we have traffic safety control officers

on the network day and night who undertake their own assurances. Our team undertake our own

assurances as well each month, so there is a lot of monitoring and surveillance of the network where

possible. Just to give you another example, and this has been used in

Buckinghamshire, we've got remotely operated traffic signals which can be

surveillance from both the contractors offices and their subcontractors offices

and that is through different trials giving us a benefit of driver behavioural

kind of thing, so red light jumping. That is one key aspect but also network

monitoring as well. So yeah we do a lot of work in the background obviously not

necessarily evident on the network itself sometimes we admit that it could

go better but there's a hell of a lot of work that goes into this and I'm sure my

colleagues on the left Rod can testify for the amount of engagement that we do

have with local authority and promoting what measures that we do implement on

network to minimise that destruction. Next slide please. So going into vehicle

compliance and monitoring, I'll do this very quickly. So again we adhere to

industry leading safety standards, that be falls or coming into mission zero. I'm

not sure whether you heard of that or not, but particularly mission zero is

something that the project is pushing towards in the next phases. We have a

dedicated compliance and monitoring centre which looks at vehicles off route

also tracks entrances that entry and exits compounds and things like that

and we are planning a visit a joint visit between Buckinghamshire council

offices and EKFB that slightly delayed beyond spring probably more likely to be

summer now but again an example of our close working relationship with the

local authority and we certainly invite any questions that are asked when we're

discussing vehicle offering data and VMS, VMBs data at traffic liaison groups

meetings in particular. So there's robust processes for the management

subcontractors, suppliers and hauliers. Again this reverses back to the vehicles off route.

Things like drive wraps and things like that which the contractor has

promoted and invested heavily in with regards to supply chain. Again we maintain high standards

impacting the entire history into the future so again that is through our logistics team.

promoting falls and the like.

And again, hopefully, and again it's subject to opinion,

but we want to leave a legacy in the haulage industry in particular

in terms of those maintenance and standards beyond when the project is finished.

Next slide please.

So, movement of material by rail.

The graphic on screen is actually slightly out of date

So I've got some new figures as of last Friday.

So up to date, up to today,

we've moved 4 .2 million tonnes of aggregate by rail,

which has resulted in just over 410 ,000

vehicles off the road, saving 30 ,000 tonnes of carbon.

As we discussed earlier,

that comes into a rail head and is moved internally

and we try and minimise as much journeys by road as physically possible.

Next slide please.

So moving on to the Road Safety Fund.

We've committed 3 .95 million in the series of tranches.

We're on the third tranche now, in fact we are on the third tranche now up to 2026.

I believe that there's been some communications of the FT for a possible

extension of that funding and top up of that funding. I'll allow my council

colleagues there to maybe give an update at a later date.

The schemes which the council promote are identified and prioritised by the

in year up to 2026 which is detailed which is included in the report submitted

to the committee and a total spend of 3 .6 million has been allocated to date

and with a further 350 ,000 to be drawn down. So I'll move on to the next slide

please. So again this refers back to what the earlier slide said and details

around that. Again we're now formally approved funding for those schemes in

collaboration with the project. Detailed designers work has begun on that

including several site surveys and again we're anticipating that the schemes will be

complete by the end of this year which is again sort of success of the

project that we should be celebrating really. So next slide please.

So moving on to recently opened Key Highway Link within Aylesbury. So this is the South

East Aylesbury Link Road and Stoke Manigault relief road. This was opened in November last

year. Again, key bit of infrastructure has unlocked a lot of the earthquakes in the area

but has also been aligned to the council promoted project which yeah was a real

sign of collaborative working in that regard.

Next slide please. So just to give you an overview, Mark did cover this in his

slides, well some of this anyway. So Gourcott Road that opened in September

last year as we just said, Saltmannerville, Relief Road and Stratton Orly Road in the

area of Chet Road that opened in October last year, again has freed up a lot of the earthworks

in that area so we can make continuous improvements or certainly deliver work within

regards to the earthworks and completion of the railway. So forthcoming openings in 2026,

So we've got Edgcot Road, which I believe will be next month.

Station Road coming up in the late summer, as we discussed, A422, Quarter 3.

And Calvert Road, School Hill, that again will be in the summer.

Steeple Clains to Twyford, that's going to be winter time.

Leather Lane again in the winter time.

and then GMI 2 and GMI 12 which Mark will be able to give us an update on that in terms of specifics.

But next year there's going to be, you know we wouldn't dress it up any other way, there's going

to be significant impact within the Alsbury area in terms of new highway alignment openings

over the 12 month period. Nastley Road in particular that's going to be a

a tricky opening in terms of the engineering and the design with significant impact but again

working together with all stakeholders we'll try and minimise that where we can.

And that is it from me.

I'll hand over to Alistair now.

Hold on we just got a question.

Oh sorry.

Cllr David Carroll - 1:09:03

Thank you Chairman. Firstly I must congratulate that you said a lot of materials have been used by

Cllr Dev Dhillon - 1:09:07

removed by train which is really good news. Wish it was more than that. Whatever is happening to

HS2, there's a lot of lorry movements which is not only of the site of where the work is done but

surrounding areas is affected. You also mentioned in your update there is extension to the funding

but there's hardly any money left in the pot. Will there be any more funding and who can apply for

those fundings? If I give you example, in south of the county there's a lot of parishes which they

really suffering from the lorry movements but they don't know how to

apply, where to apply and where to look for that support. Some of the roads in my

vision they are actually surface failing because of the lot of movements so what

is the process that you can tell me that we can do on that? I could give you a

William Lowe - HS2 Traffic Manager, Central - 1:09:59

high -level view from HS2's perspective but obviously again there's two

two parameters to this really. So the first is that we've done precondition

surveys of all our construction routes that was done in 2018 I believe and then

we've done interim surveys in 2024 and we will do surveys at the end of the

main works symbols construction contracts. In terms of how the highways

damage claim process works I'd refer you to council colleagues in terms of how

that works, whether that's done up front in terms of funding and then a

percentage of that claim is made at a later date. I would certainly, yeah, we'll

take that question away I think and answer that cohesively I think is the

best way of doing it.

Cllr Dev Dhillon - 1:10:53

So the committee can I just jump in on that one because it's important to say

Cllr Thomas Broom - 1:11:02

that the road safety fund does not fund pothole repairs or resurfacing of roads

and he's actually pretty restrictive in terms of how close you have to be to the

line of routes. So I think so from common stock pages I think are too far away

for example from the line even though they're impacted by the traffic

movements to benefit from the road safety fund. In terms of the direct

damage on roads in Bucks I mean I think you know it's fair to say this is this

is something we've gone back and forth on for a very very long time and I don't

think I'm going to be letting the cat out of bag when I say that in Bucks we

think there is a significantly bigger impact on the road network than HS2 is

willing to concede to. In terms of the the process of recovering there are

sort of a number of threads to this because HS2 will be doing some work at

the end of the project when the project is gone to sort of to repair certain roads

but obviously there are roads that are failing in the interim I think probably

most infamously for us internally the C3 as we refer to it which is a road that's

been particularly badly hit and we've already done several sections and we're

planning to do several more. So the team, the council is in almost contact, almost

constant contact in terms of trying to recover some more funds to do some

more of this work. But it is a relatively complex process because there's a

question of you know what is causing the damage, how much of that is HS2, what

roads do we need to action immediately in order to take remedial steps because

road is actively failing versus what will sort of get priced into the end of

the process. So we have recovered fairly significant funding from HS2

that should be said, you know to their credit that has been paid across and

obviously we looked at some of the larger projects there like CELA which

have involved very significant contributions from HS2 but it will

be an ongoing process and because it's based in large part on assessment of the

condition of the roads it changes as we go because as we all know sometimes

sections of road can deteriorate very very quickly and say that that condition

assessment can change in a pretty short period of time but I really don't think

we're going to be out of those negotiations until HS2 is completely

you ask the county. Everything that Councillor Broome said is correct there. We are working

Joel Sykes - HS2 Senior Engagement & Interface Lead - 1:13:47

very closely however with council officers to put any claims through and we have made

commitments at the very beginning of the project that we will remunerate any damage that's

been created to the roads of the communities or the local authorities in which we're working.

So that is the process which we're going through at the moment.

Claims are being submitted. We're working with council officers.

We met with them last week and we're looking at ways in which we can communicate more openly

and maybe speed up the process of making those claims come through to us and get the work done.

But yeah, that is one route. And I think in terms of other funding,

as I think Will mentioned, we understand that the council have written to the department in

relation to the road safety fund because that's a fund that we administer but it

was from the Department of Transport so just for clarity on that one. One more

Cllr Thomas Broom - 1:14:38

thing Jack because I do think it's important to put this on the record

because actually there is a way that we're looking at these things and there

is an ongoing process but there is also a way that residents will look at this

and the reality is that if HS2 drives a thousand HGVs a day down a road and that

road then falls to pieces HS2 does not pay for that road to be resurfaced HS2

is is willing to pay a very small minority of the cost of that getting

resurfaced and this I'm saying that because I think this is where the

disjoint tends to come in between what what residents are hearing and then what

they see in reality because most people assume that if you drive a huge number

of HGVs across a piece of road and that piece of road that's basically been you

know relatively low traffic before that then full species then you would be

expecting sort of you know 80 to 100 percent of the the cost of that road

being resurfaced to be picked up by the project it is not we are talking about a

very small minority of the cost and so even where we are recovering costs from

HS2 we are not recovering cost at cost if you see what I mean and the vast

majority of that investment still has to come from capital investment from the council.

Cllr David Carroll - 1:15:59

Cllr Anja Schaefer - 1:16:05

So, and then Greg after that. Thank you. So I'm pleased to see that we will have

significant reopening of roads around Westbury and particularly around Steeple

Claydon and Quainton or roughly in my area of the county and I'm not saying

the residents will agree this was joy but probably with relief so I'm looking

forward to this and hope this can actually happen as scheduled. I have a

question about the roads opening in 2027 and that includes the A413 London Road

realignment in Wendover and I take an interest in the Greenway through

Buckinghamshire and I know the Missbourne Greenway has now been constructed, I think

to Dunsmore and it is still not connecting with Wendover and so it's no use whatsoever

to the residents of Wendover and very limited use to the residents of Great Misson and although

they can have a nice cycle ride they can't get anywhere particularly useful other than

a bit of nice countryside. So is that realignment of the A413, will that enable residents from

Wendover to access the Misborne Greenway? Or am I asking completely, if you're telling

me I'm asking completely the wrong question, then please tell me.

I think the best way to answer that is not at the moment, not the proposals that I've

William Lowe - HS2 Traffic Manager, Central - 1:17:34

seem addressed any sort of active travel plans or connexions with other cycle

or other parts of the cycle network at the moment but again we'll take that

more detailed question away in terms of specifics and answer accordingly

because I haven't got the necessarily all of the information to hand. I can offer a little bit there.

So yes there's two parts isn't there. There's the the Mysborne greenway which

connects on to Small Dean which then connects into Wendover that's currently

impacted by our construction work so that once the works around when small

they invited to completed the connexion around there into Grove farm and around

that back onto the roundabout will be will be remade so that's one piece of

Simon Matthews - EKFB Interface & Stakeholder Director and Chief of Staff - 1:18:15

work missing the final connecting the final link of the Mizzou and Greenway

the second part is therefore one three real arm itself slightly further to the

side that includes us constructing a length of cycle way from the cottages in

on London road. The A413 works are putting it in its final position. That will be done

in 27 which will include a section of combined cycleway footway.

Cllr Anja Schaefer - 1:18:45

The timeline for completing the work at small Dean so that can be connected, can you give

me an update on that? Not directly, no. I'll come back to you.

Simon Matthews - EKFB Interface & Stakeholder Director and Chief of Staff - 1:18:55

Thank you. Great.

Cllr David Carroll - 1:18:58

Cllr Gregory Smith - 1:19:01

Thank you chair, a couple of cheeky questions if I may. First one is that materials are

delivered by rail and taken away by HGV. Is there any reason why more materials couldn't

have or couldn't now be taken away by rail in the same way that they're delivered? That's

the first cheeky question. Second one is that you've built this wonderful service road all

way along HS2. What are the chances that once the work's finished that that can be available

to give a few benefits back to the community, whether that's walking, cycling, solar panels,

I don't know, something that can provide a bit of benefit back to the community?

I'll start, Councillor Smith. So in terms of the material by rail, that has obviously

Simon Matthews - EKFB Interface & Stakeholder Director and Chief of Staff - 1:19:47

been a real win for us all. The numbers that will set out there in terms of how much material

we've taken is a significant saving. The amount of material we are bringing in across the

route from an aggregate point of view is huge. And when you look at what we have in Buckinghamshire

compared to other areas, we have the benefit of a rail link.

The – so that's bringing material in. We actually – the material we – we don't

actually take material out. The material that we use or we tell you that we bring in is

aggregates and stone, quarried stone, the material that we have and move up and

down the soil is all retained on site so we're currently not planning to move any

material off site we're looking to find ways to use that as additional screening

areas so there's no there's no plan to remove material off site. So the HTV is going there?

So what's happening is the material comes into the railhead at Quainton, that's then loaded into a

stockpile and we then use the internal site access road to move that aggregate up and

down our own road network. So that's what's a double handling. We take it off the train,

put it into a dump truck and then we run that up and down the internal site access road.

And coming on to that internal site access road, the second question was what can we

do with it. And clearly there would have been a win if that can be reutilized as an active

travel route. And in certain areas HS2 are looking at that. There was a study that HS2

looking at with the department about how we can use or retain certain sections of the

internal site access road as an active travel link.

But that's to be balanced against the landscape mitigation.

So in designing the railway and finding the appropriate acceptable design to blend the

railway into the landscape we are using as much of the land we have such that the land

Form is put back in a more natural form as possible which means in a lot of cases

We have to widen the earth work as much as we can such that

You've got a more I suppose a more gentle earth work than you have an engineered earth work

That means that we would encroach upon if we were to be restrained by the site access road. We would probably have a less

Acceptable landscape. So it's trying to find that balance of where we can

retain some of that connectivity without having a net detrimental landscape impact.

Okay, can we move on?

Of course we can.

Cllr David Carroll - 1:22:19

So I'm just going to give a very brief update on a couple of points from last year

Alasdair Hassan, HS2 Head of Engineering - 1:22:26

before I hand over to my colleague Julian who will take us through the majority of the environmental updates this afternoon.

So next slide please.

So the first thing I'm going to cover is rainfall and flooding. So if we wind back

to 2024 in Buckinghamshire there were a higher number of high intensity events

and that led to several incidents with extreme weather as the root cause of

that. Fortunately last year was much drier, both more broadly in the country

but also in the in the Buckinghamshire area and we have fewer high intensity

events and longer durations of longer dry periods. That contributed to our successful

earthworks last year and the 7 .4 million that was mentioned earlier on and resulted in much

fewer flooding incidents. If you could move to the next slide. With any project of this

scale though, it's always a fine balance to find the right balance across what we're doing.

and so the dry weather actually presented us some different challenges, particularly with some water shortages over the summer months.

And I'm pleased to say that we managed to reuse 75 % of the water on the EKFB section of the route,

and that was recycled and didn't come from the main supply.

And we've long recognised the need to conserve water on the project,

and as I said it's about finding that balance between what we can achieve in the drier sections

of the year with how we conserve water throughout the project. If you just move to the next slide

quickly this is just a quick update on community tree donations. So last year we donated just over

5 ,000 surplus saplings to locations in Buckinghamshire. They range from Elsbury where we are today

up towards Waterston, Harpwick and then Hartwell down in the south.

And with that I'll hand over to Julien to continue.

Thank you Alistair. As you all know climate change is the most pressing challenge of our time.

Julien Diaz - HS2 Senior Environment Manager - 1:24:41

As one of the biggest civil engineering projects in Europe, HS2 tries to limit its environmental

impact to its very minimum.

It's not just about protecting the environment.

It's about future generations, about our legacy to them,

about what we leave behind.

In the upcoming slides, I'd like to show you

how we actually stick to our mission

to deliver for next generations,

but also how we contribute to Buckinghamshire local plans,

starting with the climate change and air quality strategy.

Now, in this slide, you will see some information that you've already seen that were presented

earlier by my colleague.

There's just a little breakdown here about the emissions avoided using rail in 2025.

We've saved 11 ,159 tonnes of CO2 by using rail deliveries and we're quite happy with this

number.

Next slide, please.

When it comes to air quality, the highest standard that is currently used across the

industry is called NRMM.

Now I'm going to give you a tiny bit of a walk through NRMM.

NRMM stands for Non -Road Mobile Machinery and the NRMM scheme is used in London, greater

London and central London in order to limit the amount of carbon emitted by construction

plants.

In central London, the emission standard is emission stage 4.

In greater London, it's emission 3B.

And we expect this standard to be emission 5 in 2030.

The reason why I'm giving you this information is so that you can understand what this slide means here.

HS2 imposes emission stage of 4 on all sites regardless of geographical location, which is basically central London standards.

EKFB had 100 % of compliance on non -road mobile machinery standards in 2025.

And more importantly for us and for the industry, 80 % of all non -road mobile machinery was stage

5 on high speed 2 in 2025.

Which is, again, a standard that the industry is expecting to reach later on in 2030.

Next slide, please.

In terms of dust and air quality, there are 39 dust monitors scattered across Buckinghamshire

on our project. I'm

happy to report that zero dust emission exceedances were reported in 2025. Next slide,

please. Thank you.

As you will

have probably spotted in the picture earlier, so I have been a bit quick changing

Next slide.

The dust monitor was using solar energy.

We are quite keen on using innovative technology and any other technology that we can use in

order to reduce carbon emissions on our site.

In Buckinghamshire, this means that we've got temporary power setups at Grimsdeech.

We've got air welfare cabins at school, overbridge compounds that are currently fully solar.

And across all of our C2A sites, we've got CCTV units, tower lights and monitoring systems

that are all solar powered, which is, again, something that we try as much as we can in

using.

Next slide, please.

Thank you.

On top of new technology and alternative sources of power, we're using alternative fuels.

Now, again, for your benefit, there are two current alternative fuels mainly used in construction.

The first one is called HVO.

This stands for hydro -treated vegetable oil.

HVO is basically produced from 100 percent renewable feedstocks.

And it can cut greenhouse gas emissions by up to 90 % compared to conventional diesel.

It is fairly expensive, but it's very easy to use.

And we're quite proud to report that 95 % of all fuel used by Yolane on HS2 in 2025 was actually HVO.

HVO was also used by Clancy to fuel their fleet at the KFB A418 compound as part of a trial.

And then the second technology, the second fuel we are using is hydrogen.

Hydrogen is finding its way more and more in the construction industry.

We currently have got hydrogen fuel cells technology being used at Thames Valley Verdict

and Stoke -Mondeville as direct replacement for diesel generator.

And obviously on our side we try as much as we can to avoid using diesel.

Next slide, please.

So we've covered air quality.

I'd like to show you how we contribute

to the Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes

local nature recovery strategy

that we refer to as LNRS.

Going forward, there is a little picture here

of the Ellesbury Golf Course,

where five years ago we've planted 3 ,000 trees.

This is how it looked like in 2025.

So I just wanted to put that there.

Next slide, please.

Thank you.

So what I've done for the upcoming two slides is I've

taken the themes that are covered in the local nature

recovery strategy, and I've put against this some actions

applications that we have carried out in 2025 on high

speed 2 within your locations.

So that you can see what we have done.

I'm not going to go through them all.

I've just selected a few.

So we have got 15 ecological mitigation sites that were

created that enhanced and restored land -based habitats.

We have got 46 ponds that were created as well in order to

improved biodiversity in built -up areas by locating 76 locations to provide cover for

breaks in flight lines.

And we've also erected 63 barn owl boxes.

You will have spotted that theme two and theme four are missing from these slides.

Theme two is about water management.

And this information is currently being collated as part of the reset.

So I did not have the full data set, which I'm more than happy to share at later stages

if needed.

And theme four, those not applied to construction.

So I decided to scope it out this slide.

Next slide, please.

We've also put up 311 bat boxes in order to create connexions between high quality areas

for wildlife and habitats to flourish.

We've planted 25 ,000 trees with ecological mitigation,

with an ecological mitigation site

to link home rumour and cheap house woods

in order to improve air quality

and manage the effects of changing climate.

And finally, we've improved the environment

for rare specialist species.

Our main focus really here in the area

was in Maxwell Brook where we've supported

and attracted black hair -streaked butterflies

by planting extra heavy black -sawn standards

and large whips.

But we've also created 17 artificial pager sets

of which 50 % are currently occupied.

Next slide, please.

So when it comes to planting,

which is obviously an important subject,

In 2025 -26, we've totaled 39 ,893 trees being planted.

We are now waiting for a planting programme to be provided to us, which will cover all planting seasons up to 2030.

And you can see on the right -hand side a picture of a 41 Waddesdon where we've created quite

a lot there.

So this is quite a recent picture.

Next slide, please.

When it comes to the community and environment fund and the business and local economy fund,

we've had two main projects in 2025.

The first one was the creation of a new Memorial Garden on behalf

of Chalfont St. Peter Parish Council.

This allowed for 2 ,000 square metres

of open space to be improved.

Twenty -five metres of edge row have been planted.

And we've got a 12 -tree cherry walk

that has been also built there.

And then on the right -hand side, you can see the trees

have been planted across the parish new cemetery site

in Buckingham where we've planted 431 trees.

Next slide, please.

We've had 13 woodland fun schemes delivered.

You can see some of the statistics here

of how much woodland creation has happened

and how much plantations we've done on ancient woodland site restoration.

We have funded 96 ,192 trees that should be planted in Buckinghamshire. So far we've planted

65 ,500 of them. We still have got 30 ,000 to be planted. Next slide, please.

And very last, we had a question last year at the last tech panel about being able to

inform residents about how the project actually moves forward.

So HS2 has developed an online interactive map for the Chilterns National Landscape.

We chose the site in Chilterns area that will be landscaped.

So also the type of planting that will take place there and when.

So this will be hopefully quite a good source of information for residents to know a tiny

bit more about what happens in the area.

And the website will be live shortly.

Next slide, please.

And I will now pass on to my colleague Joel for community and stakeholder engagement.

Thank you for your time.

Shall I just counter through these and then we go up?

Yes, question, Caroline.

I had some questions before you went on this section.

Cllr Justine Fulford - 1:36:33

I did notice that you have a lot of grand schemes and big numbers, but I'm quite interested

in some of the smaller things, for example, flowers.

There's no mention of the flora that you're introducing,

and maybe that's in the interactive map

that you've drawn up for the Chiltern National Landscape.

But one of the things I noticed driving here

was that some of the buns which have been put in place,

I know that they're moving, some of them,

but I saw a new one today which I haven't come across

on Nashley Road, actually, which completely obliterates

the view across the Vale to Coombe Hill.

So, but it's particularly, I mean,

it's lovely coming down Rocky Lane

and seeing new wildflowers.

I wasn't sure if they'd been planted

or if that was a scheme that HS2 had,

if they'd been seeded.

You didn't mention it through your presentation.

So I'm quite, and also of course,

I'd love to see the map of the interactive map.

I'm very interested in that.

Is there any numbers for the flowers and smaller...

David Prys-Jones - HS2 Head of Natural Environment - 1:37:43

I guess in terms of wildflowers, there'll be sites that we have that we have specifically

seeded with specific grassland mixes that are local to the area.

There'll be other areas I think that you've identified where it may well be self -seeded.

I think we'd have to look at that one individually and see if it'd either be seeded or self -seeded.

Is there a local plan?

There's a plan for every site in terms of our ecology mitigation sites, there's a plan

for every site in terms of the exact planting mix that goes onto them.

So I was just going to add, in that map you will be able to go in and see what we're planning

Joel Sykes - HS2 Senior Engagement & Interface Lead - 1:38:17

to plant, what the landscape will be, so the seed mix is that sort of thing.

I think it's just in past years we've come, people have been particularly interested in

trees, so we've focused on trees in the presentation to make sure we're asking, or at least answering

a question that we're likely to get raised.

Caroline.

Just going back to the, it's not Buckingham Town Council, that's Chalfont St Peter's.

Cllr Caroline Cornell - 1:38:42

And what's the other one that says Chalfont St Peter's?

Sorry, I didn't get any other questions, sorry.

Right. On your CEF and BLEF delivered, it says Buckingham Town Council, that's Chalfont St Peter's.

And Chalfont St Peter's, where's that one?

Just curious.

This is number 33.

They've been inverted.

They've just been exchanged.

Sorry about that.

Peter.

Thank you, Chairman.

Cllr Peter Martin - 1:39:23

I talked a bit about trees and the quantity you planted. It's an oft asked question at

Tech. How many trees have you actually cut down? So what's the balance? And thinking

about the balance overall in terms of the environment and ecology, where are we with

biodiversity net gain on HS2? You've talked about some work that you've done, but what

you haven't balanced it with is some of the trees, the vegetation, some of the wildlife

damage that the projects inevitably caused. So where's the balance?

Simon Matthews - EKFB Interface & Stakeholder Director and Chief of Staff - 1:40:11

I'll take a general answer. I think as a project, HS2 are looking at no net loss across

the programme, across London to Birmingham, and I certainly think when we came last year

we gave a little bit more granularity about Buckinghamshire and it was showing areas of

net gain.

But HS2 are only reporting it at a programme level but locally we are seeing increase.

I think the key thing is where we can introduce additional features and certainly in the landscape

design a lot of that is ecology led.

So hedgerows for example, we are promoting as many as developing a lot of those as possible

because they have the most positive impact. So certainly the landscape team when looking

at the design, David can come in here, but is finding the ways to increase that and provide

overall. I think the key thing is you mentioned about

the interactive maps. So the schedule 17 plans that we've had at

the initial phase of approvals had an indicative mitigation plan.

The stuff we're doing now is more detailed, so as we're resubmitting our schedule 17 plans

now it has greater levels of detail around vegetation and planting.

So there's more information available now about the features that we are creating in

the landscape.

Yeah, just to touch on the, I think the question was asked about where we are with our known

David Prys-Jones - HS2 Head of Natural Environment - 1:41:36

net loss in biodiversity ambition.

So, we measure no net loss in biodiversity every six months.

So, we do a route -wide calculation, takes into account all of the habitats, all of the

landscape, all of the hard infrastructure within the route of the project, and we follow

a DEFRA -based calculation for that.

The last time we ran that calculation was in September.

We're just finishing up running it now.

And in September, we were actually, we'd moved into a net gain for all three measures of

the calculation.

In terms of measuring individually for Buckinghamshire, we can cut those numbers out.

We don't, it's a route -wide calculation, that's how it's run, so we don't tend to cut it out

just for specific areas, but we can do that, but the headline is that we're in a pretty

good place.

In terms of the question about tree planting, I think one of the things I'm really keen

to do is to move away from this notion that it's just all about the numbers of trees,

it's about the quality and the integrity of the woodlands.

You don't necessarily need a lot of trees to make a good woodland.

So that's the angle that we're going for.

We monitor and manage those woodlands.

We provide monitoring reports on an annual basis to the HS2 Ecology Review Group, which

Bucks Council are a member of.

So they get the monitoring reports annually about the condition of those woodlands.

Thomas, I looked at you again, a bit agitated there.

Yeah, look, I've got a few bits on this.

Cllr Thomas Broom - 1:43:01

So and following up from from essentially the question that Peters asked so the first thing is in terms of

What is actually gain and what is just mitigation?

Because there's an awful lot of stuff that is going to be deployed

This is just mitigation for the damage that has been caused by the project

And I think we are all going to get very cross if we start seeing that labelled as enhancement or gain

particularly if that is enhancement or gain set against damage that's been done

in Birmingham. I think the idea frankly of you know the taking the idea of

looking at the BNG and you know nature enhancement all this stuff on a

route -wide level is just utter nonsense. I mean it just it makes it totally

pointless for any given community it means that nobody has any assurance

whatsoever that there will even be proper mitigation for environmental

damage done, never mind actual enhancement. So I would reject that entirely. I mean,

doing, to be honest, doing it on a box -wide basis is stretching it, given

that you are running north to south in a very long thin county and that

actually you're having profoundly more impact in some places than others. I

think also factoring into that, you know, there are much easier mitigations that

can be provided in some places than others. So, you know, the green bridge is

fantastic but you can't do one in the centre of Aylesbury and so we don't want

to have a situation where you're only mitigating, you're mitigating damage in

in some areas but not in others and the project isn't sort of curving towards

the stuff that is much easier to mitigate and then taking a look at the

places where it's more difficult and sort of going well that goes in the

too difficult bucket. The other thing which I think is really important in

terms of mitigation of environmental impact and particularly of nature impact

because obviously you're building a railway line and it cuts through you

know this is much easier on the children tunnel section but you know having

having ways for particularly for wildlife to actually cross the line I

think is a really very important one so I'm not gonna go any further because I'm

just gonna get into the details or too much of the details but I really do

think there's an important point here about what is mitigation needs to be

labelled as a mitigation and it needs to be a mitigation that for damage that

he's done locally and if we end up with some big hot podge of you know OES will

overall across this enormous corridor which is sort of you know the same

surface area as some small countries we have overall achieved a 5 % increase that

you know forget us that's just not going to connect with any local

communities because they're just never going to believe that their area has had

the mitigation it needs and actually I know that there has been good work done

in making sure that some local communities do know that the mitigation

is is being put in place so I really urge a slightly more granular approach

to that because otherwise we could be throwing away lots of hard work already

done. Yeah I think well the devil is in the detail I think you know we have a

Simon Matthews - EKFB Interface & Stakeholder Director and Chief of Staff - 1:46:13

we have a GIS tool that allows you to look at an area that identifies what is

what was there before, what is there now, as David said, against the measures.

That is only reported up at a route -wide level.

The detail exists, it's just not reported at that level of detail, is that?

David Prys-Jones - HS2 Head of Natural Environment - 1:46:32

Yes, it is. We've got the data set that we have covers the entire

route. In terms of the calculation that we carry out using that data set,

we follow the DEFRA -based approach, we follow the methodology

that was approved by government at the time, and that's done on a project -wide level.

that's why we haven't split it out previously, but I understand your point.

You know, the mitigation that we have, we've got mitigation for the project

environmentally, we've also got compensation, so some of the stuff Julian

just went through there to do with our woodland fund and other things, that's

explicitly compensation, that's addressing an impact to something that's

irreplaceable, i .e. ancient woodland, but we are explicit in, you know, making sure

that we have that differentiator and the no net loss

calculation we do is just an accounting measure, you know, it's never driven our

design, our design is driven by what's outlined within the environmental statement.

I think just picking up on the design point, we have just concluded detailed design across

the whole length of the route. We've been undertaking that detailed design for some

Mark Clapp, HS2 Project Client - 1:47:33

five or six years and I've certainly seen the evidence of all of that design coming

Alasdair Hassan, HS2 Head of Engineering - 1:47:36

through the designer and the contractor and I see an awful lot of effort that's gone into

the environmental mitigation, the no net loss calculations to ensure that we've

got the infrastructure that's going to sit appropriately in the landscape and

the environment and I think we need to, yes we can provide some more detail on

some of the specifics, we will take that action away to do that.

Yeah I think there's lack of information at the moment, I think can we see all that stuff please?

Cllr David Carroll - 1:48:05

We will take away that question and see what we are able to provide you.

I've seen a multitude of designs that have come through.

Alasdair Hassan, HS2 Head of Engineering - 1:48:11

We have that information.

I think we need to provide some of that information

for you to be able to see.

We will take that as an action.

I just think, because I want to emphasise this point,

I don't want us to get into a situation where,

you know, if the first thing that everybody hears

is, you know, route -wide, you know, net whatever,

Cllr Thomas Broom - 1:48:29

and then decides that we don't trust that,

that's not gonna, you're then just gonna spend

years and years and years fighting against people who don't believe you even when you're trying to do the right thing.

So, you know, local first, lead with that sort of local first approach,

let people know what you're doing in the area and then talk to them about how that factors into the wider picture.

Because otherwise you break that trust early, it's just going to make it so much more difficult for everybody.

Can I just come back on that quickly, Councillor Broome? Absolutely understand that, absolutely appreciate.

Joel Sykes - HS2 Senior Engagement & Interface Lead - 1:49:04

and I think what we've done through our engagement early on in terms of what we're going to be building,

when we're going to be building it, and what it will look like in the future.

We've accelerated through construction, we've built what we're going to build,

and now people are seeing, especially in the line area, they're seeing it built and they're wondering

well what's to come next, and trying to remind some local communities or trying to explain what's already on a website.

The purpose of the website that we're putting together is trying to bring back to local people what it is that we've already said

But also in more detail at a granular level that they can understand you can zoom into your area see what's going to be

Yeah, mixed grass Linda what's going to be planting where that is, but you're entirely right it isn't

It isn't enhancement. It is mitigation for the railway line and we will be very clear about that

There's one piece of work as well that we are doing with Buckinghamshire council officers around

The council themselves have a tree planting scheme,

I think 500 ,000 over a period of time.

Can't quite, maybe 30, 31, 2031.

But we are working with officers to try to identify

any plots of land near to HS2 that the council owns

that we currently have control of,

that we would be giving back to the council

once we finish building it, using, building on it,

or using it, and seeing if those are potential opportunities

for planting in the future. So we are trying to work closely with officers on that but again

that isn't that's not mitigation for our railway line it is something similar but working alongside.

Cllr Anja Schaefer - 1:50:45

Okay I've got a couple of small comments one is really tiny and that's that picture about

the scheme of Buckingham town council neither of those two pictures are of Buckingham as far as I

I can tell the one on the left might be an artist impression,

and I can assure you it's not going to look like that,

because it was the new cemetery.

So if you're taking this presentation anywhere

near Buckingham, I would encourage

you to find a picture that actually fits the scheme.

But that's a really completely minor point.

It'd be petty.

About the trees, so I think a lot has already

been said about the value of mature hedgerows,

the values of mature woodlands, which

you know, it'll take a very long time for any new planting to put this up,

which is why people also don't trust the biodiversity net gain calculations

because they see something, an ancient woodland or an ancient hedgerow being replaced with new plantings.

They say, look, how does that make up for it? That's a comment.

The other comment is also on the tree planting.

You've given us a picture of the tree planting around Bodusen.

and last year was an exceptionally dry summer.

If we're getting another exceptionally dry summer,

I would have thought all of these trees will no longer be alive at the end of it.

And I guess there's a question as to what you're doing to look towards that eventuality.

But my real question is about something you've mentioned only very, very briefly,

and that is about the missing bit on water.

and water is obviously where's the water coming from,

what do you do in times of drought,

but the question I'm asking

is that you're obviously the civil engineering works have made significant

changes to the landscape

sometimes across watersheds or you know near watersheds

and this is probably a question that applies to absolutely

nearly everywhere where you've been, wherever there's you know you've built

above the landscape or the current landscape.

The one that I get asked a lot in my ward is about the works around Tewesden, significant

landscape works relatively close to the Ouse.

And so I think calculations, or I've been told before that the calculations show it's

not likely to immediately increase flooding risk in the Ouse.

Most people don't believe that.

So my question really is what is being done to monitor this long -term in operation,

whether the calculations actually work out in practise,

and what would be the plan to mitigate if we're suddenly seeing higher peaks,

say, of water runoff into the ooze at that point,

which will reach places like Water Stratford,

but more importantly Buckingham at some point.

Yeah, I think there are two points

that I'd like to cover here.

Julien Diaz - HS2 Senior Environment Manager - 1:53:47

The first one is about where does the water come from.

That was covered by my colleague earlier.

The water comes from our retention ponds.

So we've got different retention ponds across our sites

where we can pump up water so we do not

have to go to rivers and other canals.

And we do not have to use mains water.

So hopefully this answers your first question.

The second question that I believe has to do with flood prevention, et cetera.

I would answer by obviously covering the fact that any activity that is carried out next

to a main river or an ordinary water course requires some form of approval and requires

obviously a risk assessment to be carried out.

Close to main river, we've got what is basically called

Schedule 33 approval, which are basically a form

under the high -speed act of flood risk activity permit

where a risk assessment has to be carried out to make sure

that the activity that is taking place, including water runoff,

is not going to cause flooding.

So to answer your second question, yes, there are a lot of measures in place.

They're all part of either scheduled certifications or flood risk activity permits depending on

the water course that is being affected.

And so all of that is obviously risk assessed and monitored along our activities to make

sure that we do not increase the potential for flooding.

Cllr Anja Schaefer - 1:55:40

That was quite a technical answer. And I will put it to you that residents will not be persuaded

by this. You need to find a better way of communicating. In the particular example that

that I've mentioned, people are very exercised

about the flood risk on the ooze.

It's been going on for years.

And I think you need to come up with a less technical answer

that tells people how you're monitoring this in practise

as to what it means and what you're

going to do to show if the risk assessment turns out

to be somewhat optimistic.

That is what people will want to know.

That's perfectly fine.

I could see as I was answering that I was losing you halfway.

Julien Diaz - HS2 Senior Environment Manager - 1:56:31

I'm terribly sorry about that.

What I'll do is I'll have the construction team specifically there to send us a report

of how they measure that and I'll forward that to you so you can have a look at it.

Sorry again for becoming a bit technical in my answer.

That's fine, that's fine.

Greg and then Mike.

Thank you, Chair.

Cllr Gregory Smith - 1:56:52

I'm glad we've had a discussion about trees.

we don't need to go over that again, but obviously people are reporting to me that so many of them are dying

and you usually expect to lose about 10 % when you're planting new trees. It's a lot higher than that

but as you said, I'm sure you're reporting on that and how you're managing that.

I was also really pleased to see your carbon report and some very impressive numbers in that which is great to see.

Is that, are those numbers verified in by some external organisation in some way

or is this just internal reporting? We all like to big up our own internal

reports. It would be nice to see some sort of verification of that. And the

final bit really just a short question really is about how fantastic it is to

again to see using alternative fuels and HBO instead of instead of diesel. Again

And does your internal reporting, will it be able to tell us how much of the HVO is

kind of waste materials and how much of that comes from agricultural lands, crops that

are grown that should actually be growing food?

Julien Diaz - HS2 Senior Environment Manager - 1:58:05

So to answer your first question, when it comes to having the carbon data verified,

I will have to ask apart from if David you're aware of.

Carbon isn't my space.

Carbon is not your space or area, that's fine.

I'll have that verified by our sustainability team

and coming back to you because I am not aware of the scheme

that I speak to is currently part of, I'm sorry.

To answer your second question,

I would expect HVO to be sourced reasonably

And to come from sustainable sources.

On our side when it comes to this area, all of that should be reported as part of our

BRAM infrastructure report.

Obviously all of this use of alternative fuels, et cetera, should be there.

So again, this is something that I can inquire about

and forward you so that we've got that.

It'd be great to know.

So it's a bit useful, really.

It is.

It's a shame to undersell yourselves.

Cllr Gregory Smith - 1:59:16

Yeah, I was, I'm not gonna lie to you.

Julien Diaz - HS2 Senior Environment Manager - 1:59:20

I was quite surprised to see this number.

More specifically, coming from one of our contractors

having such a high level of HVO being used

is quite a good storey, so yeah, thank you.

Mike.

Yeah, thank you Chairman. We're moving on.

Cllr Michael Collins - 1:59:38

Further to Greg's question. Over the years, hundreds if not thousands of trees have been planted to meet planning criteria, planning conditions.

I have examples within my ward and I'm sure it's the same across the county, where those trees have been planted and simply people have, the developers walked away and left them.

we have a very substantial development in our area that Councillor Huxley's aware of.

Well within two years the vast majority of those trees had to be pulled out because they were dead, gone, finished.

And I want to know exactly what HS2 are doing about monitoring and maintaining those trees.

Tomorrow Councillor Huxley and I will be with Taylor Wimpey

and we've made it very clear with the Hamden Fields development,

there will be a strong monitoring and maintenance programme.

Taylor Wimpey assured us that they have retained an external organisation to do

exactly that, to monitor water and keep them alive for the duration.

There is no point in just planning a sapling because we're going to meet the

criteria that we as planners set down and then walk away from it.

It's ridiculous, it's stupid and it shouldn't be allowed.

So I would like to know whether or not there are external contractors retained by HS2 to ensure that the trees they plant are monitored and cared for to give a happy and long life.

Simon Matthews - EKFB Interface & Stakeholder Director and Chief of Staff - 2:01:18

I can take that one. I think in terms of the management of those planted areas, each part

of the railway or each part of the planting that we deliver also comes with a maintenance

plan. So we have a strategic level plan of how it will be delivered. But each asset,

each area of woodland or planting area will will will deliver a landscape

maintenance management monitoring management plan it's a five letter

acronym I always get mixed up but it's yes basically there's a detailed plan of

what the species are what the recommended planting regime is so

that's created for each and every woodland block say that that then is

passed over to HS2 to maintain and depending on who the land owner is, is

who that obligation sits with and as land is handed back to a landowner

that land, that requirement would be passed over to the landowner as a

covenant to maintain in accordance with our plan. If the landowner didn't

maintain it, HS2 would have to engage another contractor, a maintenance

contractor in order to do that work but the detail of what needs to be done is

set out within the design and Alistair mentioned the design is complete. That design includes

the delivery of a landscape maintenance management plan for each and every asset. From a contractor

point of view we deliver maintenance for a certain period of time. We would then pass

it on to someone else to maintain on HS2's behalf. Whether that is a land owner or a

maintainer, that's an obligation that sits with HS2.

Okay, Mike, just a quick one.

Cllr Michael Collins - 2:02:56

Very quickly, we as a county are dedicated to, in fact, grow hundreds of thousands of

new trees in the forthcoming years, and I think it's fine for you to say that, but I

think we as a county need to ensure that we have a monitoring programme in place that what

you say is actually happening because it somewhat defeats the objective again in the same scenario.

So I think we, if nothing just as a group, must ensure all times that we are following this with progress.

Cllr Thomas Broom - 2:03:31

So obviously in terms of our own schemes, and we've mentioned a bit of that, potentially finding some more land to do it, we do exactly that.

So we have arrangements with bodies like the Woodland Trust to do long -term maintenance and we only count live trees in the number.

So if we planted 50 trees that then died, we wouldn't count those 50 trees anymore.

They'd come out of our number planted.

I think in terms of the planning enforcement kind of question,

I think I'm right in saying that within the Act, areas identified in the Act,

it's DFT who would police that.

I think in outside of the defined Act areas, I think it would be us.

So I'm not entirely sure what that arrangement would look like.

I don't think we necessarily had that conversation because we're still waiting to see what it will look like.

And so we're not quite at that stage, but I think that's probably a conversation we need to have.

And make sure that we can get something in place.

And I would just add in there have been instances, understandably in the past, through some dry summers where trees have died.

Joel Sykes - HS2 Senior Engagement & Interface Lead - 2:04:33

and that's been raised to our, well we were already aware of it, but also members of the

public and community groups, looking at Peter and maybe other members in the room, have

raised it to us and we have sought to go in and repair the mitigation sites which, with

beat up planting, to ensure that they met the expectation of the proposals or the design

that Alistair discussed earlier. So we do take those incredibly seriously within

the website that we've been putting together with the with the map. I

absolutely understand people want to know what's going on they can also

perhaps look out the window and see but we will put on the link there that they

can then go through to our help desk if they wanted to say complain or put any

points or locations towards us to say is everything growing all right in those

locations because I absolutely appreciate the concern people have

towards watching trees that have been planted not.

Thank you very much. Can we move on?

Yep, coming back to me. So I won't introduce myself again.

Duncan Fallon - 2:05:38

Joel Sykes - HS2 Senior Engagement & Interface Lead - 2:05:40

And I will run through this very quickly as I appreciate we've been sat down for a long time.

But yeah, so I'll be rounding off today's speakers.

If we can move on to the first slide.

First slide captures a scale of engagement activity across the county,

which has been delivered jointly between EKFE and Align.

That's from parish council meetings, bespoke project briefings, to drop -in events and to

site visits.

And our goal, whilst not always achieving it, our goal has always been to try to avoid

surprises to local communities.

We give communities advance notice of what's coming and what we do to minimise disruption.

And we do that through works notifications, newsletters and increasingly by trying to

get people behind the wardings and onto our site visits.

So on the slide this year I put in site visits and actually I think at the beginning of the

new council in May last year or after May we brought a number of local newly elected

and returning members to some of our sites in the areas near to, well, through the constituencies.

So we tried to do that on a regular basis as well.

The next slide highlights our use of animated graphics and active visuals.

We produce these for specific construction works to explain what's coming up.

On the slide there you've got the Wendover Spring Chamber, which is a bit of a complex one

and abnormal to the normal work we do through constructing railway lines.

So we try to create these to let people understand what's going on in their area.

And these have proved particularly valuable for major road closures, helping people understand diversion routes

and the impacts that they will feel in a bit more detail.

We do understand and we do appreciate

that the works that we're doing disrupts the daily lives

of the residents of Buckinghamshire.

And we can't always eliminate that,

but what we try to do is give people an easier way

to navigate what we're telling them

and the impacts that they're feeling.

So this year we use them for the permanent closure

of the A4010 and the subsequent opening

of the State Manifold relief road and then we've also used them for some road

closures around Calvert which we do appreciate have been quite impactful in

recent weeks and months and then we've also used them around the Quainton,

Wendover and the Amershon area and we work with officers at the council to try

to identify where those maps are probably best used and where the impacts

are going to be most felt by your residents. And then the next slide we're

going to move on to complaints and inquiries. We share this data with the

council on a monthly basis and then we also meet with your

officers on a weekly basis to look at any of the complaints

or inquiries that are coming through and trying to pick up

any arising issues or trends with them.

As you can see, 99 % of our complaints are answered within

20 working days and we also have a two -day turnaround for

urgent inquiries as well.

After a peak in complaints and inquiries last year,

Our complaints and inquiries have fallen below that level again this year, which is good,

especially as we're still in a peak year of construction.

And as you would expect from seeing our stats over the last few years,

traffic transport remains a dominant concern, with about two -thirds of complaints coming in about that.

It is the main and most impactful thing to the residents of Buckinghamshire.

It is something that we expect to see, and it's borne out through the data.

But what we do do on a monthly basis is try to interrogate that data, have a look into

it and understand where those peaks in complaints and inquiries are coming from, so that then

we can try to, if possible, inform people in a better way about the impacts that they're

about to feel.

And that's one thing that we do do on a monthly basis.

The next slide moves on to the community and business funds.

So we've now allocated 21 .9 million of a £40 million fund for the Community and Business

funds across the project. We've allocated just over 5 million, 5 .1 million to 95 projects

across Buckinghamshire and we continue to provide these schemes through newsletters,

community meetings to any eligible groups or businesses who would like to apply.

Moving on to the next slide, which just shows some of the more recent granted applications

that have come through.

We're always happy to go out and talk to local groups, associations or clubs about funding

opportunities and as I say here are some more recent ones.

This fund will stay open until the end of the construction phase or the end of HS2 when

trains start running.

So that £40 million will be spread, the rate remaining £19 million will be spread over that period of time.

So the funds remain open and we're still receiving applications, but please, any groups that you're aware of, please get in touch with us.

So I'll just have a drink.

And then just finally, on to the last two slides.

Beyond the formal funds, both EKFB support a wide range of community initiatives across the county.

This slide just shows the figures from this year's activities and we, I think one of the

key ones there is over 13 ,000 students were reached across the engagement activities through

Buckinghamshire in the last year. And then on the final slide, these are just some of

the larger schemes that our contractors have delivered over the last 12 months. There's

only a few of them now, I do have more. But these are to just demonstrate, it isn't just

letter picking, it's some of the bigger, well one of my favourite ones is the

the junior school running track in the middle there in Aylesbury. But yeah I

send information out to the leader of the council, elected members and to senior

officers on a monthly basis of some of the stuff that we're doing. So again if

you've got anything that may be of mind, hopefully near to line of route three

bucks, please reach out to us and we're always willing to come and talk to you.

And that rounds off our presentations for today.

Thank you for that, much appreciated.

Cllr David Carroll - 2:12:07

And I deliberately done in this question to item scenario through this, so I hope a lot

of these questions already come because sometimes you tend to forget what it's all about and

the items.

So, any other questions?

Peter.

Thank you, Chairman.

I've got three points to make or questions.

Cllr Peter Martin - 2:12:24

The first one is about traffic management. I think it's something that on the recent

visit of Mark Wilde to Calvert was raised as a concern by the community. Things like

temporary traffic lights installed at a facility, HS2 works, but not effectively managed such

the lights get stuck on red, people get held up,

they then jump the lights, that freaks the lights,

and you have further problems.

That was an issue raised with him then,

and we have subsequently had further issues

of poor traffic management in the area,

which has caused quite a lot of inconvenience

to the community.

I would emphasise again that the project needs to manage

that sort of thing more effectively.

So whether that's EKFB or their subcontractor, I don't know.

I don't think the community much care.

They just want it managed properly.

The next thing is landscaping and reinstatement of sites

when you've finished your work.

I think our communities have long forgotten the briefing they were given

at the beginning of the project in terms of what it was going to be like

when the project pushed off.

So information to communities about what's happening

to their area is really important.

They're starting to ask those sort of questions of us now.

They can see particularly in the south,

lots of the work above ground's finished.

So what are we gonna be left with?

What's the project's legacy?

I think also Mark Waugh talked about leaving

a positive legacy from the project. We've heard some positivity, but I think there's

a lot more that's needed before you're going to convince our residents that it's been a

beneficial project. But could we please have a little bit more information about what our

area is going to look like going forward and what you're going to do with it. And the final

thing is that I think as we approach reset we're seeing some personnel

changes happening with the project, no names, but as people leave it would be

good that we know quickly what's happening to their in terms of their

replacement. We're losing potentially key members of the HS2 team who fulfilled

some fantastic work actually so far. It's a disappointment they're leaving.

Who's going to replace them? Can we please be kept up to date with

what's happening so we don't hear it on the grapevine? I think that's about it

for me. Thanks.

Cllr Thomas Broom - 2:15:26

Can I ask Will to respond to your first question Peter please. Thanks Councillor

William Lowe - HS2 Traffic Manager, Central - 2:15:33

Martin. So in terms of traffic management as we alluded to earlier in the

presentation we have traffic control, traffic safety control officers out the

network they respond to direct complaints that come through the HS2

help desk or through community engagement officers working on BRFB,

EKFB who will look at that specific instance if that is directly reported to

them but what I would do is encourage yourselves or your constituents to get in touch with

us. Have you got any specific examples?

Cllr Peter Martin - 2:16:15

I think the issue is that so many of these issues are highlighted by residents first

and then they wait for a response. I think we need to ask you to be a little bit more

reactive. I understand you've got CCTV controls with some of these lights. Can they please

be used? Some residents don't behave very well around that sort of thing. I accept that,

but that happens everywhere. It's not peculiar to the Calvert area, for example. So it just

needs a bit more care and attention and management. That's my feeling.

William Lowe - HS2 Traffic Manager, Central - 2:16:55

Just responding to that, as I said, a lot of the traffic management setups now for signals are utilising a Remoss system, as it's referred to, remotely operated signals.

And there's a permanent signal setup that's gone in outside the 418 compound. Now I know we've had a lot of complaints around that.

Without going into specifics, that isn't necessarily related to HS2 Works.

I'm happy to respond to that outside of this, as to what that could be.

But, yeah, there is a lot of surveillance which is done by EKFB, the contracts in this particular area.

So I'm confident that, again, we're doing what we can.

We can do it better. I don't necessarily disagree with you there.

And we'll take that feedback away.

But in terms of red light jumping, just going off what the some of the specifics you're

talking about, we are doing a trial and that's in Oxfordshire, which is another area I cover

where it's been almost sort of it's been a massive issue on an A road that we've currently

got works on going.

And we're looking, once we've gathered the data for that particular site, rolling that

particular technology across all sites.

So we're happy to, through different mechanisms, whether it be the traffic liaison groups or

what have you, we're happy to feed that back in terms of how successful that technology

is operating on the network.

Yeah, please feed back.

And if it is successful, let's have it.

Of course.

Cllr Peter Martin - 2:18:32

So I'm going to ask Joel to respond to your second question, please.

Joel Sykes - HS2 Senior Engagement & Interface Lead - 2:18:37

Thank you, yeah. And actually, Peter, I was just going to say, what we do try to do wherever

we've got any works on the network is inform people in advance of that work. So we let

a lot of people put things on our websites, inform people wherever we can. So just trying

to limit the impact or the surprises that they'll fill. But yeah, we do understand that

traffic and travel and support, how's that impact to them?

Your next point was on landscaping plans.

And I do think hopefully that website

that we're putting together

will help to inform local residents.

We are taking some of our initial plans

back to future events,

so that all of the things that we've spoken about

in the past, we're now taking back and hopefully saying,

well, this is what we said we were gonna do,

and this is what we've done, and this is, yeah,

this is where we are now.

So all future dropping events and things hopefully you'll see our old CGI's and plans and maps.

And they're also going to be at the mobile visitor's centre which residents in the north of the county probably see more than you do in the south.

But that goes out and they have all of the map books which demonstrate what we're going to be planting when.

And so yeah, those will be going out as well.

And then on to just before we do, I think just on the landscape restoration, you're

Simon Matthews - EKFB Interface & Stakeholder Director and Chief of Staff - 2:19:55

right, several years ago we did have some quite not technical focused conversations,

but we took no, I think we have those and you saw some of the photographs earlier that

they are true to life.

But I think the other thing that was we did many years ago right at the start of EKFB's

journey specifically was we took our landscape architects out to talk to interested community

groups and I think showing how they interpret the landscape character and how they use how

they see the design has responded to that was a really positive engagement.

And I think at the time it was very early but we've not been able to do that because

of a number of issues but I think certainly as we move forward I'm keen that the engagement

becomes more positive and looking towards the future about what is it going to look

like and you can see it because here's an example. So you know not just having

the plans, a plan is a means by doing it. Actually having someone, you know,

a landscape specialist talking to you about what it is, I think is even more

powerful than than just a plan on a page.

Parish Councillors, our town and parish Councillors would appreciate that. Thank you.

Duncan Fallon - 2:21:16

What the designs are going to look like. Now it's more so with a little bit of reassurance

perhaps of what is not going to happen on those sites as well. We can revisit those

designs. Now we have all the drone footage and the footage of those sites as built. That's

going to be quite a powerful storey to tell I think in the next few months particularly

across the aligned sites.

Cllr Thomas Broom - 2:21:47

Yes, I mean as we're coming to a close I sort of opened up with sort of a number of things,

a number of sort of stages that I'd like some more information on, so perhaps we do a little

bit of a scorecard at this point. So in terms of what's going on at the moment I think we've

had quite useful information here about and some good answers to questions, particularly

on some of the traffic stuff, which is really, really

welcome.

But I do think that too often, HS2 does feel a little bit

like it's like a utility company with extra powers.

That level of disruption on the network, but then a little

bit more.

I do still think that the one thing that I haven't heard

today is about not future planning, but future

information.

So I think very often the frustration is that you're having to close a road or partially close a road or whatever it is

That it seems very obvious to us

You always knew you were going to have to do

But we didn't find out about it until very shortly before it happens

And I think actually if we can if we can sort of drive forward some of those lead times

I'm not just talking about the big things where you know Rocky Lane leather lane very long -term closures, but

very often you've got sort of something that you knew you'd have to do, you probably

knew you'd have to do it in the next month or two, but a decision happens

relatively late and because you've got the powers that you do you can just make

that decision and get on with it and so that I think has both an impact on

residents but it also creates a perception of slight callousness in

terms of in terms of that. So I think I'd like to see some improvement there. I

very much take the point that Peter's made about being a little bit more

reactive. I'd also say actually it would be useful if we could see being a bit

more proactive on some of those those traffic and road based issues in the

sense that let's you know let's not just wait for something to go wrong and then

you know for somebody to come in and then get a reactive response but

actually look at those areas where you can anticipate problems. You must

have a lot of data from the project, it's been going a long time, it's been doing a

lot of these, there must be locations that you know are problematic and maybe

we could help you with that on our side because we may be able to pull something

out on that as well and maybe be a bit more proactive with, you know, if you've

got a site that you know is difficult, getting somebody who knows that

they're probably going to need to go there actually can make quite a difference in terms

of the reaction on the ground in the way that people perceive it.

So moving on then to reset, which is the second thing I wanted to talk about. I find being

perfectly honest, I don't think I know any more at the end of this about reset than I

did at the beginning, apart from the fact that it's definitely two years and we're somewhere

in the middle of it. It seems, you know, we're very nebulous in terms of, you know, when

certain decisions are going to be made. As I said before, I appreciate that is not necessarily

an HS2 problem. If you're waiting for direction from above, then you have to wait for direction

from above. But at the moment, I think recess and the implications of that still seem very

unclear to me. In terms of next steps and moving on to rail systems operator, I think

We did get some additional detail, I think, today.

But again, it's still, and again, I will concede,

not necessarily within the control of HS2 at this point.

But I think when you've got these issues

where you don't necessarily know what's going to happen when,

maybe it would be a good idea to see what information

that you can put together,

that you can put into the public domain,

that would just give people that reassurance

that actually you are thinking about what's happening next.

One of the long -term criticisms, I think, of the project in Bucks has been sometimes

it just feels like it stumbles from one bit into the next and there's not enough sort

of joined -up thinking. And so actually, if you've got stuff you can tell us about that,

even if it's, look, you know, this is pretty broad stuff, but this is what we will be doing.

We can't tell you when it's going to happen, but, you know, this is the broad sequence.

I think that would be helpful. And I think in terms of that connexion with the public,

It will give them something to anticipate and again it just potentially removes some surprises.

I think probably the thing I'm most pleased about coming out of this is the various discussions we've had about legacy of the projects, long term.

Really glad to hear that we're going to get some more information about that landscaping.

and actually that is going to be the net result on bucks of all of this at the

end of it landscaping is probably going to be about 90 % of that for how most

people perceive it so I'm really pleased that we're going to get more information

on that I think we've had some really important conversations about the

sustainability of that and the long -term environmental impact on the county as

well so I think I think that's probably the area I'd say we've come out of this

strongest I'd be very keen to go completely down the rabbit hole on that

but obviously we probably don't have time to do that right now but that's

where I think we would sit with those four stages that I set out at the

beginning. I've been watching Mark's head nod I'm in the conclusion of thanks for

Cllr David Carroll - 2:27:23

all the questions we've had today I think it's been really really positive

We've put in some questions to you.

You've got it about residents have gone through so much pain over these years.

And I think we want our county repaired as quick as possible.

And when you said about reset, Mark, you said to residents about reset, oh, here we go again.

So hopefully you're going to pass on all the information you can.

I know it's tough for you working with the government, whatever, going on what Thomas

are saying feedback to us or the cabinet members it's so crucial I think and I've

been involved in committee engagement for so many years it's king I think so do

you agree more feedback so Mark do you just want to make a few more words

because it's obviously the year

Mark Clapp, HS2 Project Client - 2:28:15

Cllr David Carroll - 2:28:30

Thank you very much for everybody's time. Lots of people here but it's worth doing it

and we will be seeing you again in the future. Thank you very much.

6 Work Programme

Going back to the work programme, it's as set out and thank you for your time. Thank

you.

Mr Steve Bambrick

Corporate Director Planning Growth & Sustainability

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Mr Richard Barker

Corporate Director Communities

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Cllr Thomas Broom

Conservative

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Cllr David Carroll

Conservative

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Cllr Michael Collins

Conservative

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Cllr Caroline Cornell

Conservative

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Cllr Dev Dhillon

Conservative

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Cllr Justine Fulford

Liberal Democrats

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Cllr Clive Harriss

Conservative

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Cllr Andy Huxley

Conservative

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Cllr Peter Martin

Conservative

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Sally Moore

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Cllr Chris Poll

Conservative

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Cllr Anja Schaefer

Liberal Democrats

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Cllr Gregory Smith

Green Party

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Transport, Environment, Communities & Climate Change Select Committee - Tuesday 21 April 2026, 2:00pm - Buckinghamshire Council Webcasting

Transport, Environment, Communities & Climate Change Select CommitteeTuesday, 21st April 2026 at 2:00pm

Agenda

Slides

Transcript

Map

Resources

Twitter

Forums

Speakers

Feedback

Votes

Cllr David Carroll - 0:00:07

1 Apologies for Absence

Sally Moore - 0:00:26

2 Declarations of Interest

Cllr David Carroll - 0:00:38

3 Minutes of the Previous Meeting

4 Public Questions

Cllr Chris Poll - 0:00:57

Cllr David Carroll - 0:03:05

Cllr Thomas Broom - 0:03:15

Cllr David Carroll - 0:03:33

5 HS2

Cllr Peter Martin - 0:04:10

Cllr Thomas Broom - 0:04:26

Mr Richard Barker - 0:04:32

Mr Steve Bambrick - 0:04:33

Hannah Austin - 0:04:40

Rod Black - 0:04:47

Daniel Gigg - 0:05:00

Rod Black - 0:05:10

William Lowe - HS2 Traffic Manager, Central - 0:05:12

Mark Clapp, HS2 Project Client - 0:05:20

Alasdair Hassan, HS2 Head of Engineering - 0:05:29

Julien Diaz - HS2 Senior Environment Manager - 0:05:39

David Prys-Jones - HS2 Head of Natural Environment - 0:05:47

Duncan Fallon - 0:05:53

Joel Sykes - HS2 Senior Engagement & Interface Lead - 0:06:05

Simon Matthews - EKFB Interface & Stakeholder Director and Chief of Staff - 0:06:15

Cllr David Carroll - 0:06:26

Cllr Thomas Broom - 0:06:48

Cllr David Carroll - 0:10:09

William Lowe - HS2 Traffic Manager, Central - 0:10:24

Mark Clapp, HS2 Project Client - 0:12:19

Cllr David Carroll - 0:22:07

Cllr Clive Harriss - 0:22:11

Mark Clapp, HS2 Project Client - 0:22:27

Cllr Anja Schaefer - 0:22:59

Cllr Justine Fulford - 0:23:02

Cllr Caroline Cornell - 0:23:04

Mark Clapp, HS2 Project Client - 0:23:16

Alasdair Hassan, HS2 Head of Engineering - 0:23:30

Cllr Anja Schaefer - 0:24:00

Mark Clapp, HS2 Project Client - 0:26:16

Cllr Justine Fulford - 0:30:13

Mark Clapp, HS2 Project Client - 0:30:57

Cllr Thomas Broom - 0:32:18

Mark Clapp, HS2 Project Client - 0:34:24

Cllr David Carroll - 0:36:49

Cllr Peter Martin - 0:37:06

Mark Clapp, HS2 Project Client - 0:38:45

Cllr Gregory Smith - 0:40:24

Cllr Andy Huxley - 0:40:39

Mark Clapp, HS2 Project Client - 0:41:12

Cllr Anja Schaefer - 0:43:26

Cllr Thomas Broom - 0:45:58

William Lowe - HS2 Traffic Manager, Central - 0:48:13

Cllr Michael Collins - 0:49:39

Cllr David Carroll - 0:50:44

Mark Clapp, HS2 Project Client - 0:50:55

William Lowe - HS2 Traffic Manager, Central - 0:57:18

Cllr David Carroll - 1:09:03

Cllr Dev Dhillon - 1:09:07

William Lowe - HS2 Traffic Manager, Central - 1:09:59

Cllr Dev Dhillon - 1:10:53

Cllr Thomas Broom - 1:11:02

Joel Sykes - HS2 Senior Engagement & Interface Lead - 1:13:47

Cllr Thomas Broom - 1:14:38

Cllr David Carroll - 1:15:59

Transport, Environment, Communities & Climate Change Select Committee
Tuesday, 21st April 2026 at 2:00pm