Ruislip Residents' Association

Our HS2 Working Group was open to any RRA member willing to contribute time or expertise to HS2 issues. The Group worked hard to research many aspects of the proposal, and has submitted its final reports to the Executive Committee.  We will report back to our members at the AGM on Thursday 30 June at Winston Churchill Hall.

Reports covered the following aspects of the HS2 proposals

1. HS2 Capacity, demand and economic factors
2. HS2 Government strategy
3. Impact of HS2 for Ruislip Residents
4. Noise factors
5. Stop HS2 objections
6. West Coast Rail Issues
7. The rejected tunnel through Ruislip option
8. The rejected direct route for HS2 via Heathrow

  Attached  is John Randall's response to RRA letter of 11 March 2011.

Dear Mr Hurd and Mr Randall,                                           11th March 2011

I write to you on behalf of our members and your constituents on the issue of compensation for members of the public who are suffering avoidable personal stress as the result of planning blight caused by the proposal to route High Speed 2 through Ruislip.

You will be aware that these proposals cause many concerns.  Compensation is available when compulsory purchase orders are served and the severe hardship scheme offers a minimum safety net when its harsh criteria are met, but in our view compensation should be both more readily available and considerably more generous.

When making proposals for the good of the community, we believe the guiding principle should be that individual citizens are not exploited in that process.  When building new roads or railways some citizens will inevitably lose homes or face loss of amenities.  Some of those losses defy compensation – the loss of good neighbours, the loss of family memories, the loss of much loved gardens – which makes it all the more appropriate that compensation for material loss should be generous.

However the compensation currently available is far from generous.   In our view compensation should be available to anyone who wishes to move now and is prevented from obtaining a fair price for their property due to planning blight caused by HS2 or similar proposals.  Many of your constituents are already suffering great personal stress because of the impact of the current proposals.  Uncertainty is corrosive, with wide implications.  Health and personal relationships can suffer.  The savings of a lifetime can be in jeopardy.  Hopes of a peaceful retirement or of moving near to family or friends can be dashed.  For small businesses the impact can be devastating.

We urge you to use your influence to ensure that compensation for planning blight is both more generous and more readily available.  The community should not expect individual citizens to be sacrificed for the public good.

Yours sincerely,

Joan Davis,    Chairman

HS2 Ltd/DfT have now launched the HS2 consultation.  It closes on Friday 29 July 2011. Please see highspeedrail.dft.gov.uk.  All the information road shows are listed on this site, including the Ruislip one on 30/31 March at Winston Churchill Hall  - opening hours 8am to 8pm each day.

There is a set of frequently asked questions on the website, to aid your completion of the online form.  Alternatively you can download the response form to fill out manually and then post it to:

Freepost RSLX-UCGZ-UKSS
High Speed Rail Consultation
PO Box 59528
London
SE21 9AX

Ruislip Residents Assocation have set up a fact finding working group, consisting of both members and Executive Committee members, to study all aspects of the proposed HS2 project in order for us to be able to clearly and fully respond to the consultation in due course. If you would like to join the group please contact our Chairman, Joan Davis.

On 20 December 2010 Philip Hammond, the Transport Secretary, announced that the Government has now decided which preferred route for HS2 will be put out for public consultation in February 2011.  The part of the route that was planned

for Ruislip and published as a map last summer remains unaltered - other parts of the routes have had some changes made, either for greater noise avoidance or to route it further from local villages.

Hillingdon Council held a meeting on 2 December 2010 for residents living close to the proposed route, explaining more about it and emphasising that they will fight against it as hard as they fought against the Third Runway. More public meetings will follow. Council contact details are 01895 250111 or Hillingdon Council High Speed 2

There is a full  write up in the January Town Crier.  Information can also be found here:

Ruislip route map (map no. ...04004 - it is a PDF document that you will need to download)

Department for Transport

20 December 2010 press release

General information about HS2 on the Government website

This is the current expected timetable for HS2:

• Consultation Period (probably five months duration)         Start March/April 2011
• Final Decision about choice of Route                                       December 2011
• Introduction of Hybrid Bill in Parliament                                                    2013
• Construction Start                                                                                  2015

Assuming that it is decided that HS2 will go ahead, the current understanding is that the ‘Preferred Route’ via West Ruislip is most likely to be selected, though other route options will not be completely ruled out until after the consultation.

All the route maps and further information are on the Department of Transport website or that of HS2 Ltd, the company set up by the Government to look into the feasibility of this rail link HS2 Ltd

Their contact details are: Tel: 020 7944 4908  E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

An extract of the Department of Transport map no. HS2-ARP-07-DR-RW-03104 showing the route through part of Ruislip

Although this 'preferred' train route will run via West Ruislip, it will be a non-stop service from central London to Birmingham and as such passengers will not be able to access the trains at Ruislip.  The current proposal is to have 14 trains an hour travelling in each direction on the line. The train speed would be 155 Miles per hour when approaching West Ruislip from London, after which it is expected to start to accelerate to 186mph (which is up more than double the current speed of trains on Chiltern Line), to finally reach 248mph after Amersham.

Most of the track through Ruislip would run alongside the north side of the existing Chiltern line (until it nears Breakspear Road South when it will split away to become a fully separate line heading in a more northerly direction, crossing Harvil Road near to the Dogs Trust).  For the trains to run at very high speeds the track needs to be straighter and more level than the current Chiltern Line route. Various viaducts, embankments, bridges, stations and road junctions will therefore need to be re-configured or built to enable this, which will cause huge disruption to the roads and railways in the general Ruislip/Ickenham area during the many years of the construction period.

For those living close to the proposed route there is the risk that noise and vibration will affect their homes, plus the possibility of visual intrusion if the new track is built higher than the existing track, or where tall gantries will be installed (for the electricity power lines).

If the route goes ahead, some land/buildings close to, or on the line of the new track, may need to be compulsorily purchased by the Government.  Others will remain, but with a new train line right next door.  There is an Exceptional Hardship Scheme (see Department of Transport details above) for those who need to sell their homes, and the understanding is that there will be further schemes (such as compensation for blight to property) available in the future.  No more information about these extra schemes is yet available.