High Speed 2
Land acquisitions are increasing ahead of the start of main construction work on High Speed 2. So far more than 825 properties have been bought by HS2 Ltd on behalf of the Department for Transport under different property schemes relating to Phases 2a and 2b as well as the London to West Midlands Phase One route.
High Speed 2 will have the largest area of compulsory purchase ever undertaken in the UK and HS2 Residents’ Commissioner Deborah Fazan reports that property acquisitions on Phase One are increasingly taking place under this process. HS2 Ltd has recently published new express purchase guidance to encourage homeowners along the route to sell up before the need to issue a compulsory purchase order.
The commissioner cautions that express purchase is a misleading term given there are a number of stages to go through before HS2 Ltd can acquire a property and this often lengthy process can lead to frustration on the part of applicants. The guidance aims to set out clearly how the process works.
Among the property schemes operated by HS2 Ltd, Need to Sell allows HS2 to buy properties outside the HS2 safeguarded route where home owners can demonstrate that they have a compelling reason to …
