On Wednesday evening, the House of Lords completed its consideration of the High Speed Rail (Preparation) Bill, commonly known as the Paving Bill. Today the Bill became an Act, receiving Royal Assent.
As has already been reported in this blog, the Paving Bill's primary purpose is to enable the Government to spend money on HS2, before the scheme itself has been authorised by Parliament.
Remaining Stages
The House's standing orders were amended to allow the second reading of the Bill (the stage at which the Bill's principle is debated) to be followed on the same day by what are generally called the 'remaining stages'. These remaining stages encompass committee and report stages and third reading. As the Bill authorises expenditure and was therefore classed as a money Bill, the House of Lords was unable to amend it during the remaining stages so they were just formalities. The final stage, Royal Assent, was given today, meaning we now have the High Speed Rail (Preparation) Act 2013.
Highlights of the debate
Baroness Kramer, Minister of State for Transport, opened the debate for the Government. She noted
"There are three key arguments for HS2 and the high-speed network that this Bill presages: capacity, connectivity and growth" (notably omitting shorter journey times) while agreeing that "infrastructure on this scale always has some negative impact."
Responding for Labour, Lord Adonis provided a denouncement of arguments in favour of other capacity upgrades as an alternative to HS2. He suggested that works of the scale required would cause 14 years of continuous disruption and cost half as much as HS2 but deliver only one quarter of the capacity increase.
Unsurprisingly for a money bill, the debate had a significant focus on figures and costs. Lord Cormack called it a "blank cheque" and Lord Adonis stated that "HS2 should not be built at any price". Although the Act does not have a maximum figure in it, Baroness Kramer confirmed the "vigorous" reporting process requires an account to be provided for any deviation from the budget (£50.1b in 2011 prices, for those confused by the array of figures now bandied about). The justification for absence of a capped figure was given as allowing extensions to be considered under the same Act.
Also prominent was consideration of the effect of HS2, particularly on the Chilterns. Some specific points concerning the extent of tunnelling and the effect on the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty were raised but this debate on this topic is only just starting with publication of the Environmental Statement now expected within days.
In closing, Baroness Kramer formally confirmed that the hybrid Bill will be introduced on Monday 25th November. The enactment of the High Speed Rail (Preparation) Act 2013 is therefore timely.
BDB HS2 seminar on how the hybrid bill process will work for HS2 - 27 November 2013
We are holding a seminar on how the hybrid bill process will work for HS2 on 27 November. The details (including how to register) can be found here.
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