Following Royal Assent,
relevant local authorities (including BCC) now have a role in “approving”
matters of detail relating to the design of the railway, which will place a
number of new burdens on the county council.
Negotiations on the Service
Level Agreement (SLA) and subsequent Funding Agreement – the mechanism for
HS2/DfT to fund local authorities – have been on-going for many months and is
still not finalised.
Currently HS2 Ltd has agreed
to fund two highway posts officers via the Funding Agreement but the detail on
funding on other elements (flood, ecology, administration, management) have yet
to be agreed. Unfortunately HS2 are not being consistent or transparent in the
discussions and have changed their position on the funding. This makes planning
difficult and risks that we will not have secured enough resource to deal with
applications when they are submitted.
We have undertaken and
provided an analysis to demonstrate the resource that would be required to
fulfil our future duties. This analysis includes a large number of assumptions
and caveated as a result of the uncertainty and lack of clarity of their programme.
·
Quick
agreement needed on the Funding Agreement & SLA – work in progress and confirmation
expected in the next 2 weeks.
·
HS2
to provide the necessary resource to cover the new burdens
·
HS2/DfT
cover all BCC’s project management costs of delivering HS2 Assurances to ensure
they are successfully delivered
The County Council role post Royal Assent
The hybrid Act gives HS2 Ltd
a lot of power. The County Council has limited/ little power or recourse now
that HS2 is an Act. Legislation refers to “approvals” which is not a true
reflection of the process because if the Council fail to respond within the
timeframe set out in the Act it is deemed approved.
Our role:
• To inform not to
consult or engage (this is HS2 project not the Council’s and we are not
resourced to do so) however we have the skills and experience to support
• To consider lorry
routes
• To consider temporary
and permanent highways works
• To coordinate across
disciplines
• To oversee delivery
of Assurances
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