Report of the Strategic Director (Development)

This reports informs Members of the consultation being held by HS2 Ltd. on the recently published Working Draft Environmental Statement (WDES) in relation to the construction of HS2 Phase 2b, with a specific focus on the proposals within Manchester.

The Committee considered a report of the Strategic Director (Development), which informed Members of the consultation being held by HS2 Ltd. on the recently published Working Draft Environmental Statement (WDES) in relation to the construction of HS2 Phase 2b, with a specific focus on the proposals within Manchester.

The Head of City Centre Growth and Regeneration referred to the main points and themes within the report which included:-

·                The working draft Environmental Statement (WDES) described the potential environmental effects of building and operating Phase 2b of HS2 as well as proposed ways to avoid, reduce, mitigate and monitor the effects;

·                Within the City Council administrative boundary, the WDES covered land and roads at the Airport and M56, a 7.5 mile tunnel under South Manchester to Ardwick Depot, four vent shaft locations and tunnel portal, a viaduct and the HS2 station at Piccadilly;

·                The locations of the four proposed vent shafts, their diameter and height;

·                Detail of the Council’s concerns about some of the proposed locations of the ventilation shafts, including considerable transport movements arising from the movement of materials to and from the sites, associated with the construction process;

·                Details of the consultation process that HS2 Ltd. would be holding from late October to early December 2018;

·                there would be an overall response to the consultation from the Greater Manchester Combined Authority.  In addition, Manchester City Council, Trafford Council and Wigan Council (where a HS2 depot will be located) would all submit individual responses, which would feed into the overall GMCA response; and

·                Given that the Working Draft was based on a superceded design, it was intended that the Council’s response would cover the major issues of concern highlighted in previous consultation responses, and during the ongoing design work with HS2 Ltd.

Some of the key points that arose from the Committees discussions were:-

·                How were general discussions between the Council and HS2 Ltd going;

·                What discussions were taking place around the proposals for the HS2 station at Piccadilly;

·                It was felt that there was a lack of detail in HS2’s proposals for Members to effectively contribute to;

·                How confident was the Council that alternative appropriate locations for the ventilation shafts could be located and what would happen if an agreement could not be reached;

·                There was concern of the potential disruption that would be caused to Manchester residents and the impact to businesses from the current proposed locations of the ventilation shafts;

·                What was the timescale for the construction of the ventilation shafts and was the route of HS2 now fixed; and

·                Did HS2’s proposed route and  locations for the ventilation shafts contradict what the Council envisaged for HS2 in the city.

The Head of City Centre Growth and Regeneration advised that discussion to date with HS2 Ltd had been challenging but the Council was hopeful that these would improve.  It was reported that the WDES that had been produced by HS2 Ltd was based on an initial design had been amended on two further occasions.  As such HS2 would be revising the WDES and the planned consultation would take place on the revised version.

The Leader agreed that the Council needed HS2 Ltd to provide more detail on their proposals in order to effectively provide valid comments.  He advised that the Council did not currently agree with the proposals for some of the ventilation shafts due to their proposed locations and also the fact that the size of some of these shafts would in effect make them access shafts,

The Committee was advised that the final decision of the proposed route and ventilation shafts would be taken by Parliament but it would preferable to reach a mutual agreement between the Council and HS2 Ltd.  The Strategic Director (Development) commented that the Council was influencing the design through ongoing discussions and was able to make representations throughout the whole process, however, he did acknowledge that the process was complex.

The Leader advised that the route for HS2 was not yet finalised and the construction period would be lengthy and commence around 2028.  The current plans still had the proposals around Piccadilly wrongly located and the configuration of the station had not yet been resolved.  If the station proposals were to accord with what the Council wanted it would require the current proposal for one of the ventilation shafts to be relocated.

Resolved:  The Committee:-

(1)       Notes the report; and

(2)       Notes a report outlining the Council’s response to the consultation on the WDES will be taken to the Executive on 12 December 2018, prior to its submission on 21 December and in doing so requests that the Executive observes the Committee’s views:-

·                that the proposed locations for the ventilation shafts, specifically those at Withington Golf Course and MEA Central, are inappropriate; and

·                the concerns in relation to the potential disruption that would be caused to Manchester residents and the impact to businesses from the current proposed locations of the ventilation shafts.