Aylesbury MP Lidington slams '˜shambolic' behaviour of HS2 Ltd

The Aylesbury MP appeared in front of the HS2 select committee, which has the power to order mitigation, for the third time last week.

He said: “I have already appeared twice to discuss issues relating to tunnelling, but this was my opportunity to go through the constituency impacts in depth for all the towns, villages, and other settlements on the route.

“I started by talking about the consistently poor and incompetent engagement from HS2 Ltd with the thousands of constituents whose lives have been affected by the line.

“It will come as no surprise to local people that I described this process as shambolic and frustrating.

“There have been some improvements, but the general level of engagement has simply not been acceptable.”

Mr Lidington then went into detail about the specific impacts to settlements all along the line of the route.

He said: “I asked for a number of improvements to specific audio and visual mitigation, as well as improved compensation for residents in particularly hard hit areas.”

Mr Lidington also talked about a number of issues that affect the route along the whole length of his Aylesbury constituency.

“I remain particularly concerned that the impact of construction traffic should be closely monitored. This is important not just because of its impact to peoples’ day-to-day lives, but also because of key ambulance routes that might be affected by construction.”

The Minister for Europe said he will continue to put pressure on ‘HS2 Ltd, the Transport Secretary and the Prime Minister’ during the design and construction phases of the HS2 legislation ‘to make sure that the impacts to the local community are mitigated as much as possible’.