Government admits HS2 demolition comparisons between Meadowhall and M18 routes were incorrect

A comparison of housing demolition figures used to help justify changing the HS2 route through South Yorkshire was wrong by at least 40 per cent, the Government has admitted.
MP Kevin Barron has highlighted the altered figures.MP Kevin Barron has highlighted the altered figures.
MP Kevin Barron has highlighted the altered figures.

A correction note published by the Department for Transport said that a previous claim that altering the route away from a now-scrapped station at Meadowhall to a route close to the M18 motorway through Rotherham and Doncaster would result in a 81 per cent reduction in the number of properties eligible for compensation was incorrect and had been published due to a “drafting error”.

The note said the real number is a 41 per cent reduction but added the updated figure does not take account of HS2’s Need to Sell scheme, which allows people with a “compelling reason” to sell their house to the Government and is judged on a case-by-case basis.

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It said the incorrect 81 per cent figure relating to homes and businesses eligible for statutory compensation and non-statutory property schemes had been “calculated from a previous version of HS2 Ltd’s advice”.

But officials insisted despite the change, the route alteration will still result in 90 fewer demolitions than what was originally planned.

The official figures state that it will be necessary to demolish 51 properties that would directly be on the line of the M18 route, compared to 141 on the originally-planned Meadowhall route.

Rother Valley MP Kevin Barron said the Government had “sneaked out the fact that they had got the HS2 M18 route housing demolition figures completely wrong”.

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He said on Twitter: “The Government also admitted that the figures do not include the Need to Sell scheme which has no geographic boundary and is judged on a case by case basis.

“Therefore they can have no way of predicting how many people will be affected or able to apply.”

The M18 route demolition estimate includes 16 properties on the partially-built Shimmer Estate in Mexborough - but anti-HS2 campaigners have argued those figures should include the full 216 properties originally planned to be built at the Shimmer estate.

The DfT’s report says: “HS2 Ltd’s advice is clear that – at the current level of route design, which is the same as for the Meadowhall route – only 16 properties at the Shimmer estate would need to be demolished.

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“The entire estate has been safeguarded due to construction and engineering challenges.

“The Secretary of State notes that there are similar potential issues on the Meadowhall route and is confident that property demolitions will be significantly lower on the M18 route.”

HS2 said in September it would be purchasing 30 houses and 16 vacant plots of land on the Shimmer Estate to complete the housing development which already has over 160 existing properties.

It comes after a report commissioned by Sheffield City region bosses and conducted by engineering firm SNC Lavalin earlier this year estimated the number of homes and businesses in South Yorkshire that could claim some form of compensation for being within 300m of the M18 route at almost 1,300.

The DfT report says the new route is around £1bn cheaper than the Meadowhall plan, while affecting fewer people in terms of air quality and noise pollution.