HS2 – Exceptional Hardship Scheme – 2  

As you may have already heard, the Secretary of State for Transport has now announced that an Exceptional Hardship Scheme for people whose properties have been blighted by the High Speed 2 announcement will go ahead. Applications to the scheme can be made from 20th August, please see attachments for details. The good news is that the scheme is going ahead and that the Secretary of State has made some concessions by widening its scope to include some business premises. Against that, he has decided to restrict the scheme to properties close to Route 3, ruling out help for people living along Route 2.5. I have already written to him about this decision (see below), which I know will come as a blow to people along Route 2.5 who urgently need to sell their property, and will let you know what response I receive. We shall now have to see how the criteria for eligibility are applied in particular...