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 | LA02 LA02: Birchmoor to Austrey High Speed Two (HS2) Limited Two Snowhill, Snow Hill Queensway, Birmingham B4 6GA Freephone: 08081 434 434 Minicom: 08081 456 472 Email: [email protected] H13 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 LA02: Birchmoor to Austrey H13 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: LAo2 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 44 2.5 Route section alternatives 45 3 Stakeholder engagement and consultation 46 3.1 Introduction 46 3.2 Key stages of Phase 2b engagement and consultation 46 3.3 Informing the Proposed Scheme 47 3.4 Engagement and consultation with stakeholder groups 48 4 Agriculture, forestry and soils 53 4.1 Introduction 53 4.2 Scope, assumptions and limitations 53 4.3 Environmental baseline 54 4.4 Effects arising during construction 60 4.5 Effects arising from operation 68 5 Air quality 69 5.1 Introduction 69 5.2 Scope, assumptions and limitations 69 5.3 Environmental baseline 70 5.4 Effects arising during construction 71 5.5 Effects arising from operation 73 i High Speed Rail (Crewe to Manchester and West Midlands to Leeds) Working Draft Environmental Statement Volume 2: LAo2 6 Community 75 6.1 Introduction 75 6.2 Scope, assumptions and limitations 75 6.3 Environmental baseline 76 6.4 Effects arising during construction 78 6.5 Effects arising from operation 83 7 Ecology and biodiversity 85 7.1 Introduction 85 7.2 Scope, assumptions and limitations 85 7.3 Environmental baseline 85 7.4 Effects arising during construction 92 7.5 Effects arising during operation 101 8 Health 103 8.1 Introduction 103 8.2 Scope, assumptions and limitations 103 8.3 Environmental baseline 104 8.4 Effects arising during construction 106 8.5 Effects arising from operation 114 9 Historic environment 115 9.1 Introduction 115 9.2 Scope, assumptions and limitations 115 9.3 Environmental baseline 117 9.4 Effects arising during construction 121 9.5 Effects arising from operation 124 10 Land quality 126 10.1 Introduction 126 10.2 Scope, assumptions and limitations 126 10.3 Environmental baseline 127 10.4 Effects arising during construction 139 10.5 Effects arising from operation 149 11 Landscape and visual 151 11.1 Introduction 151 11.2 Scope, assumptions and limitations 151 11.3 Environmental baseline 152 11.4 Temporary effects arising during construction 160 11.5 Permanent effects arising from operation 166 12 Socio-economics 175 12.1 Introduction 175 12.2 Scope, assumptions and limitations 175 12.3 Environmental baseline 175 12.4 Effects arising during construction 178 12.5 Effects arising from operation 180 ii High Speed Rail (Crewe to Manchester and West Midlands to Leeds) Working Draft Environmental Statement Volume 2: LAo2 13 Sound, noise and vibration 182 13.1 Introduction 182 13.2 Scope, assumptions and limitations 183 13.3 Environmental baseline 183 13.4 Effects arising during construction 184 13.5 Effects arising from operation 187 14 Traffic and transport 191 14.1 Introduction 191 14.2 Scope, assumptions and limitations 191 14.3 Environmental baseline 191 14.4 Effects arising during construction 194 14.5 Effects arising from operation 199 15 Water resources and flood risk 203 15.1 Introduction 203 15.2 Scope, assumptions and limitations 203 15.3 Environmental baseline 204 15.4 Effects arising during construction 214 15.5 Effects arising from operation 223 16 References 225 List of figures Figure 1: Structure of the working draft Environmental Statement ix Figure 2: The HS2 Phase 2b route and community areas 2 Figure 3: Community area context map 7 Figure 4: Location of construction compounds which would manage construction works in the Birchmoor to Austrey area 27 Figure 5: Construction compounds for civil engineering works 29 Figure 6: Construction compounds for railway systems works 30 Figure 7: Indicative construction programme between 2023 and 2033 41 Figure 8: Business sector composition in NWBC area and the West Midlands 176 Figure 9: Employment by industrial sector in the NWBC area and the West Midlands 177 iii High Speed Rail (Crewe to Manchester and West Midlands to Leeds) Working Draft Environmental Statement Volume 2: LAo2 List of tables Table 1: Demolitions required as a result of the works to be managed from M42 Tamworth tunnel satellite compound 32 Table 2: Demolitions required as a result of the works to be managed from the M42 temporary realignment satellite compound 32 Table 3: Demolitions required as a result of the works to be managed from the Polesworth main compound 33 Table 4: Demolitions required as a result of the works to be managed from the Polesworth viaduct satellite compound 35 Table 5: Demolitions required as a result of the works to be managed from the Austrey main compound 37 Table 6: Mechanisms and timeline of stakeholder engagement since route announcement 46 Table 7: Engagement to date with community stakeholders 49 Table 8: Engagement to date with local authorities and parish councils 49 Table 9: Summary of characteristics of holdings 60 Table 10: Summary of temporary effects on holdings from construction 64 Table 11: Summary of permanent effects on holdings from construction 66 Table 12: Species potentially relevant to the assessment within the Birchmoor to Austrey area 90 Table 13: Residual significant effects on ecological resources/features during construction 100 Table 14: Residual significant effects on ecological resources/features during operation 102 Table 15: Summary of the geology underlying the land quality study area 128 Table 16: Current and historical landfill sites located in the study area 133 Table 17: Current and historical mining, mineral sites and colliery spoil sites located within the study area 134 Table 18: Current and historical industrial sites located within the study area 135 Table 19: Summary of sensitive receptors 138 Table 20: Summary of baseline CSM for sites which may pose a contaminative risk for the Proposed Scheme 142 Table 21: Summary of construction CSM effects 145 Table 22: Summary of permanent (post-construction) effects 147 Table 23: Summary of effects for mining and mineral resources 148 Table 24: Summary of significantly affected LCAs 155 Table 25: Summary description and assessment of effects on LCAs 162 Table 26: Construction phase significant visual effects 164 Table 27: Operational phase significant landscape effects 168 Table 28: Operation phase significant visual effects 170 Table 29: Surface water body receptors 205 Table 30: Summary of geology and hydrogeology in the study area 206 Table 31: River flood risk sources and receptors 211 Table 32: Surface water flood risk sources and receptors 212 iv High Speed Rail (Crewe to Manchester and West Midlands to Leeds) Working Draft Environmental Statement Volume 2: LAo2 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.