I beg to move, That the Clause be read a Second time.

The new clause and explanatory note speak for themselves. The HS2 works will lead to nearby residents feeling a multiplicity of effects that can be described as affecting the habitability of their homes. The overall effects of the construction cannot be isolated into individual impacts, but must be considered together.

On 30 November 2015, Camden Council secured several assurances, including two important ones that could mitigate the impact of construction on residential properties. The first is as follows:

“HS2 Ltd. will develop a package of noise and ventilation measures (to be agreed with the Council) to help protect the 1025 homes identified in HS2 Ltd.’s Environmental Statement that could be significantly affected by HS2 construction noise. The agreed measures should be installed before the noisy HS2 works start.”

The second is:

“HS2 Ltd. will appoint an independent assessor to survey a representative sample of a group of homes likely to be affected by HS2 construction noise”,

in addition to the previously mentioned 1,025 homes identified in the environmental statement. It continues:

“This additional group includes homes in Regent’s Park Estate, Ampthill Estate and the ‘Camden Cutting’ area. Where it can be demonstrated that a property is affected in a similar way to this sample group, an independent survey of the property will be commissioned to decide if measures to offset noise and provide ventilation are necessary.”

With regard to residential disturbance, the HS2 Select Committee stated in its final report:

“Camden is exceptional, and needs special treatment. Many residents are going to have to put up with disturbance on a scale beyond the experience in most other locations.”

The Select Committee gave directions for further mitigation, including that air quality monitoring should

“feed into an assessment of whether rehousing should occur in cases where air quality deteriorates.”

It said that

“an assessment of compliance with noise limits and a survey of health impacts” should be carried out no more than six months after the start of the works, and that HS2 Ltd

“should reconsider rehousing based on the outcome of that survey.”

The Committee recommended that residents should be

“consulted on their preferences for how to moderate the impact of the construction programme” and that HS2 Ltd should

“listen to what residents say about what might help, and respond with more than average diligence.”

The Committee stated:

“The choice of sound insulation and other mitigation measures should be in sympathy with construction and architecture”— including Silsoe House on Park Village East—

“and take fair account of residents’ views on what is visually acceptable.”

The new clause would require that,

“If measures do not sufficiently mitigate the impacts on a property and the property therefore fails a habitability assessment, residents must be rehoused at the cost of HS2.”

The new clause would go some way towards reassuring residents of affected properties that their homes will be adapted to mitigate the severe cumulative impacts that we expect as a consequence of construction. I hope that the Minister will lend the new clause the Government’s support.