Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the environmental impact of planned works in preparation for High Speed Rail 2 around Steeple Claydon in Buckinghamshire.

The Environment Agency (EA) is not aware of any current applications for any consents works for this area.

The EA determines applications on a technical basis, using information and data to inform judgements. It ensures that the applicant, with the EA’s input, has identified and assessed any potential impacts on the water environment. Any consent issued must contain appropriate conditions to protect against these impacts. An application can be refused on the grounds of unacceptable risk to the environment.

With regard to Natural England’s remit, the Phase 1 Environmental statement identified the principal ecological issues in this area as the loss and fragmentation of habitat used by bats; habitat loss and disturbance affecting at a number of local wildlife sites, and fragmentation of habitat used by black hairstreak butterfly habitat. High Speed Rail 2 (HS2) has designed a suite of woodland and other planting to address these impacts although the loss of ancient woodland at Decoypond Wood LWS cannot be fully compensated as ancient woodland is irreplaceable. HS2’s mitigation includes the Sheephouse Wood mitigation structure which will be provided to avoid potential impacts on bats crossing the HS2 corridor adjacent to Sheephouse Wood. Natural England has issued HS2 Ltd a bat licence for works in the Bernwood area.