Jane Ivey, Freedom of Information manager for HS2 Ltd, said the organisation did not hold information about how many homes and businesses fell within ‘safeguarding zones’ on the new route making them potentially subject to demolition when the route is built.
She said: “This is because safeguarding directions have not been decided for the recommended route in South Yorkshire and there has been no requirement to calculate the number of properties along this part of the route that fall within a set distance of the proposed railway line.”
Major changes have been made to the intended HS2 route through South Yorkshire after HS2 bosses scrapped plans for a new station in Meadowhall in favour of a ‘spur’ into Sheffield city centre.
Ms Ivey’s response followed an FoI request by Chris Matthewman, from the newly-established Bramley Stop HS2 Action Group.
He asked how many residential properties were included in the safeguarding zone in Bramley, Aston and Swallownest, Barnburgh and Mexborough and Denaby on the newly-revised route running from the Mansfield area up to Wakefield.
Mr Matthewman said the response calls HS2 claims that the new route will be cheaper and fewer homes will be demolished into question.
“How do they know that if they don’t know how many properties are in there?”, he said.