High Speed Two Phase 2b ww.hs2.org.uk October 2018 Working Draft Environmental Statement High Speed Rail (Crewe to Manchester and West Midlands to Leeds) Working Draft Environmental Statement Volume 2: Community Area report | Volume 2 | MA03 MA03: Pickmere to Agden and Hulseheath High Speed Two (HS2) Limited Two Snowhill, Snow Hill Queensway, Birmingham B4 6GA Freephone: 08081 434 434 Minicom: 08081 456 472 Email: [email protected] H6 hs2.org.uk October 2018 High Speed Rail (Crewe to Manchester and West Midlands to Leeds) Working Draft Environmental Statement Volume 2: Community Area report MA03: Pickmere to Agden and Hulseheath H6 hs2.org.uk High Speed Two (HS2) Limited has been tasked by the Department for Transport (DfT) with managing the delivery of a new national high speed rail network. It is a non-departmental public body wholly owned by the DfT. High Speed Two (HS2) Limited, Two Snowhill Snow Hill Queensway Birmingham B4 6GA Telephone: 08081 434 434 General email enquiries: [email protected] Website: www.hs2.org.uk A report prepared for High Speed Two (HS2) Limited: High Speed Two (HS2) Limited has actively considered the needs of blind and partially sighted people in accessing this document. The text will be made available in full on the HS2 website. The text may be freely downloaded and translated by individuals or organisations for conversion into other accessible formats. If you have other needs in this regard please contact High Speed Two (HS2) Limited. © High Speed Two (HS2) Limited, 2018, except where otherwise stated. Copyright in the typographical arrangement rests with High Speed Two (HS2) Limited. This information is licensed under the Open Government Licence v2.0. 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High Speed Rail (Crewe to Manchester and West Midlands to Leeds) Working Draft Environmental Statement Volume 2: MA03 Contents Preface v Structure of the HS2 Phase 2b working draft Environmental Statement vi 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Introduction to HS2 1 1.2 Purpose of this report 3 1.3 Structure of this report 3 2 Overview of the area and description of the Proposed Scheme 6 2.1 Overview of the area 6 2.2 Description of the Proposed Scheme 11 2.3 Construction of the Proposed Scheme 22 2.4 Operation of the Proposed Scheme 47 2.5 Route section alternatives 48 3 Stakeholder engagement and consultation 52 3.1 Introduction 52 3.2 Key stages of Phase 2b engagement and consultation 52 3.3 Informing the Proposed Scheme 53 3.4 Engagement and consultation with stakeholder groups 54 4 Agriculture, forestry and soils 58 4.1 Introduction 58 4.2 Scope, assumptions and limitations 58 4.3 Environmental baseline 59 4.4 Effects arising during construction 66 4.5 Effects arising from operation 74 5 Air quality 75 5.1 Introduction 75 5.2 Scope, assumptions and limitations 75 5.3 Environmental baseline 76 i High Speed Rail (Crewe to Manchester and West Midlands to Leeds) Working Draft Environmental Statement Volume 2: MA03 5.4 Effects arising during construction 77 5.5 Effects arising from operation 80 6 Community 81 6.1 Introduction 81 6.2 Scope, assumptions and limitations 81 6.3 Environmental baseline 82 6.4 Effects arising during construction 84 6.5 Effects arising from operation 87 7 Ecology and biodiversity 89 7.1 Introduction 89 7.2 Scope, assumptions and limitations 89 7.3 Environmental baseline 89 7.4 Effects arising during construction 97 7.5 Effects arising during operation 108 8 Health 110 8.1 Introduction 110 8.2 Scope, assumptions and limitations 110 8.3 Environmental baseline 111 8.4 Effects arising during construction 113 8.5 Effects arising from operation 118 9 Historic environment 120 9.1 Introduction 120 9.2 Scope, assumptions and limitations 120 9.3 Environmental baseline 122 9.4 Effects arising during construction 125 9.5 Effects arising from operation 128 10 Land quality 130 10.1 Introduction 130 10.2 Scope, assumptions and limitations 130 10.3 Environmental baseline 131 10.4 Effects arising during construction 140 10.5 Effects arising from operation 147 11 Landscape and visual 149 11.1 Introduction 149 11.2 Scope, assumptions and limitations 149 11.3 Environmental baseline 150 11.4 Temporary effects arising during construction 154 11.5 Permanent effects arising from operation 159 12 Socio-economics 167 12.1 Introduction 167 ii High Speed Rail (Crewe to Manchester and West Midlands to Leeds) Working Draft Environmental Statement Volume 2: MA03 12.2 Scope, assumptions and limitations 167 12.3 Environmental baseline 167 12.4 Effects arising during construction 170 12.5 Effects arising from operation 174 13 Sound, noise and vibration 175 13.1 Introduction 175 13.2 Scope, assumptions and limitations 176 13.3 Environmental baseline 176 13.4 Effects arising during construction 177 13.5 Effects arising from operation 180 14 Traffic and transport 185 14.1 Introduction 185 14.2 Scope, assumptions and limitations 185 14.3 Environmental baseline 185 14.4 Effects arising during construction 188 14.5 Effects arising from operation 193 15 Water resources and flood risk 196 15.1 Introduction 196 15.2 Scope, assumptions and limitations 196 15.3 Environmental baseline 197 15.4 Effects arising during construction 207 15.5 Effects arising from operation 217 16 References 219 List of figures Figure 1 Structure of the working draft Environmental Statement ix Figure 2: HS2 Phase 2b route and community areas 2 Figure 3: Community area context map 7 Figure 4: Location of construction compounds in the Pickmere to Agden and Hulseheath area 27 Figure 5: Construction compounds for civil engineering works 30 Figure 6: Construction compounds for railway systems works 31 Figure 7: Indicative construction programme between 2023 and 2033 41 Figure 8: Business sector composition in the CEC and CWCC areas and the North West 168 Figure 9: Employment by industrial sector in the CEC and CWCC areas and the North West 169 iii High Speed Rail (Crewe to Manchester and West Midlands to Leeds) Working Draft Environmental Statement Volume 2: MA03 List of tables Table 1: Demolitions required as a result of the works to be managed from the A50 Cliff Lane main compound and transfer nodes 32 Table 2: Demolitions required as a result of the works to be managed from the Pickmere Lane satellite compound 34 Table 3: Consideration of local alternatives for the location of the auto-transformer feeder station at Hoo Green 49 Table 4: Mechanisms and timeline of stakeholder engagement since route announcement 52 Table 5: Engagement to date with community stakeholders 54 Table 6: Engagement to date with local authorities and parish councils 55 Table 7: Summary of characteristics of holdings 65 Table 8: Summary of temporary effects on holdings from construction 70 Table 9: Summary of permanent effects on holdings from construction 72 Table 10: Species potentially relevant to the assessment within the Pickmere to Agden and Hulseheath area 95 Table 11: Residual significant effects on ecological resources/features during construction 107 Table 12: Residual significant effects on ecological resources/features during operation 109 Table 13: Summary of the geology underlying the land quality study area 132 Table 14: Current and historical landfill sites located in the study area 136 Table 15: Current and historical mining, mineral sites and colliery spoil sites located in the study area 136 Table 16: Current and historical industrial sites located in the study area 136 Table 17: Summary of sensitive receptors 139 Table 18: Summary of baseline CSM for sites which may pose a contaminative risk for the Proposed Scheme 142 Table 19: Summary of effects for mining and mineral resources 146 Table 20: Summary of Significantly Affected LCAs 153 Table 21: Summary description and assessment of effect on LCAs 156 Table 22: Construction phase potentially significant visual effects 157 Table 23: Summary description and assessment of effect on LCAs 161 Table 24: Operation phase significant visual effects 162 Table 25: Resource which would potentially experience significant direct effects 172 Table 26: Significance of effects on resources 172 Table 27: Surface water body receptors 198 Table 28: Summary of geology and hydrogeology in the study area 201 Table 29: River flood risk sources and receptors 205 Table 30: Surface water flood risk sources and receptors 206 iv High Speed Rail (Crewe to Manchester and West Midlands to Leeds) Working Draft Environmental Statement Volume 2: MA03 Preface The working draft Environmental Statement This report forms part of Volume 2 of the working draft Environmental Statement (ES) for Phase 2b of High Speed Two (HS2). The purpose of the working draft ES is to provide the public and other stakeholders with an opportunity to review and comment on preliminary environmental information for Phase 2b of HS2, which is based on a stage in the ongoing design development and environmental assessment process. Nothing included at this stage is intended to limit the form of the final scheme that will be presented in the hybrid Bill and formal ES in light of further scheme development and the ongoing discussions with stakeholders such as Transport for the North and Midlands Connect. Consultation on the working draft ES is being undertaken to help inform the ongoing design and environmental assessment in advance of producing a statutory formal ES.