The Red House 10 Market Square Old Amersham Buckinghamshire HP7 0DQ
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The Red House 10 Market Square Old Amersham Buckinghamshire HP7 0DQ 2 January 2013 Rt Hon Patrick McLoughlin MP Department for Transport Great Minster House 76 Marsham Street London SW1P 4DR Dear Secretary of State, DfT refusal to release information on the extent of generalised blight from HS2 I am writing to you as a Director of HS2 Action Alliance, an organisation that, inter alia, is pressing for fair compensation for those affected by HS2. Hilary Wharf (another Director of HS2 Action Alliance) wrote to you concerning the publication of information on the extent of generalised blight caused by HS2 on 22 November 2012. As yet we have had no reply. I also requested information concerning generalised blight (on 12 November 2012) from your Department under FOI. The information is self-evidently relevant to forming a view as to the appropriateness of the various parameters of the compensation arrangements currently under consultation. In its response (of 10 December 2012) to my FOI request, your Department admitted to holding such information. However it rejected the request for its release on the basis that the information might be detrimental to the operation of the property market. You also rejected a similar request from David Lidington, MP, on similar grounds on 12 December. Plainly this is an inadequate reason. The properties purchased by HS2 Ltd are a matter of public record, as are their locations. After nearly three years since the HS2 route was announced, local estate agents, solicitors and valuers, have a clear view as to the size and nature of the detrimental effect of HS2 on the local property market, so 1 this will inform potential vendors and purchasers – and hence market values and market activity levels. But the people for whom this information is not readily available are the members of the public who you are now consulting with your compensation proposals. It seems inescapable that, if this information is not provided to consultees, the consultation will be unfair. Withholding this crucial information would prevent consultees from being able to take an informed view as to the reasonableness and adequacy of your compensation proposals, for example • On the 60/120m distance limits being proposed in order to qualify for advanced purchase • On the criterion that a minimum 15% loss in value must be demonstrated • On the rules for the longterm scheme that will apply until HS2 is built and for whom any forecast profile of blight over time is obviously relevant (as during this period of more than a decade people would in the normal course of events re-mortgage and move several times) • On the extent to which the proposals will help the majority of those affected by blight1 and are hence generous proposals, as was claimed when you announced them. How can anyone give an informed response about proposals to address blight without information as to the extent and severity of the problem that the measures are intended to address? Given that you hold this information, the decision not to publish it is surely prejudicial. I am writing to you directly rather than pursuing a complaint through the normal mechanism, as unless your Department takes urgent action, the consultation will have closed before there is a proper determination of this matter. I am also copying this letter to all MPs on the phase 1 route, who I am sure would wish that their constituents receive fair compensation and are able to give a properly informed response. It is plainly in everyone’s interests that your Department conducts a fair consultation, so I would urge you to instruct them to publish the information that they hold on generalised blight. Yours sincerely, 1 HS2 Ltd contacted 43,000 properties about this consultation (who they say are within 500m of the phase 1 line in rural areas, or 150m in urban areas or from a deep tunnel); HS2 Ltd also previously contacted 172,000 properties for the 2011 consultation that settled the principle of how compensation for HS2 would be dealt with (who they say were all those properties within 1km of the line or 250m of a deep tunnel). Bruce Weston Director, HS2 Action Alliance Rt Hon David Lidington MP Rt Hon Cheryl Gillan MP Andrea Leadsom MP Sir Tony Baldry MP Rt Hon Dominic Grieve MP Jack Dromey MP Rt Hon Liam Byrne MP Shabana Mahmood MP Rt Hon John Bercow MP Angie Bray MP Stephen Pound MP Andy Slaughter MP Rt Hon Frank Dobson MP Jeremy Wright MP Michael Fabricant MP Rt Hon Caroline Spelman MP Dan Byles MP Nick Hurd MP David Gauke MP Rt Hon Andrew Mitchell MP Christopher Pincher MP Rt Hon John Randall MP Mark Field MP James Cunningham MP Roger Godsiff MP Gisela Stuart MP Khalid Mahmood MP Karen Buck MP Glenda Jackson MP Chris White MP Alison Munro, HS2 Ltd 3.