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HS2 Lose Freedom of Information case

London contaminated water

On the 4 March 2021, HS2 lost a Freedom of Information court case put forward by Coordinator of Hillingdon Green Party.

The decision notice of the court case can be seen here.

The court judgement found HS2 had no legal grounds to withhold environmental sensitive information of fundamental and great public interest. HS2 were ordered to release three unredacted reports on the risks of the Colne Valley Viaduct and the Chiltern bored Tunnel construction to groundwater source areas that supply drinking water to thousands of Hillingdon residents.
These reports were released on 21 May 2021 and confirm that all the active water pumping stations across the Mid Colne Valley in the vicinity of the HS2 viaduct will need to be closed during construction and/or have additional treatment works built.
Even then there is uncertainty about long-term effects on water supplies.

We link to the released documents below:

Options for mitigation of the effects of piling on groundwater
Groundwater Assessment for Construction Tasks – Piling at the Colne Valley Viaduct
Groundwater Assessment for Construction Tasks – Tunnel and Cross Passages - minus appendices (for size reasons)

The Guardian newspaper has documented this story here.

The Hillingdon green Party will continue to seek to uncover the truth, only then can HS2 be held to account or brought to a halt, in the public interest.