Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether HS2 Ltd were authorised to begin enabling works at the Calvert Jubilee nature reserve; and whether all works have been halted at that site.

There has been a recent incident in Calvert Jubilee nature reserve where some (non-ancient woodland) vegetation was inadvertently cleared without the landowner’s consent. In this case HS2 Ltd believed they understood who owned the land and had obtained their consent in advance of these works taking place. However, after further investigation it has become clear that their ownership information was incorrect, and that the land in question was in fact owned by the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire & Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust.

HS2 Ltd have written directly to the Trust to unreservedly apologise for this error and to discuss the matter further with them.

No further works will take place at this site until a full investigation has been carried out by HS2 Ltd. HS2 Ltd are putting in place additional assurance measures to prevent a repeat of this incident.