Buckinghamshire Council unable to approve HS2 lorry route application on the A422 Brackley Road

Buckinghamshire Council has stated it is unable to approve a lorry route application on the A422 Brackley Road for HS2 Ltd.

The reason give by Buckinghamshire Council for being unable to approve the application is due to a lack of relevant information and the Council’s concerns about the impact of increased large construction vehicles (HGVs) movements on the A422 Brackley Road.

The junction of the A422 with the A43 near Brackley, which is just over the border in Northamptonshire, was a junction which was highlighted in the HS2 Environment Statement as ‘One where increased traffic during the most intensive period of construction has a high potential to cause additional intermittent traffic congestion and delay at the junction during the peak period.‘

Although the junction is in Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire Council is concerned that there will be additional congestion at this junction, with potential tailbacks on the A422 and it does not seem that HS2 has carried out an assessment of the potential impacts at this junction and therefore Buckinghamshire Council believes that the current proposal will lead to additional congestion. Without additional information from HS2, the Council says it cannot make a decision on the application.

HS2 have appealed against the decision of Buckinghamshire Council not to allow the applications and this will now be considered by the Planning Inspectorate.

Ian Thompson, Corporate Director for Planning, Growth and Sustainability at Buckinghamshire Council said: ‘Buckinghamshire Council has consistently opposed the building of HS2. The use of the A422 for almost 1,200 heavy lorry movements a day for several years is a massive issue for Buckinghamshire.

Before considering lorry route applications, the Council has to ensure that the impact of the additional HS2 HGVs on the A422 will not bring Buckinghamshire to a standstill. HS2 has not provided us with the information we require to give us any reassurance on this issue.‘

Buckinghamshire Council is a Qualifying Authority which means that it determines some types of applications relating to HS2 works, including lorry route applications for Heavy Goods Vehicles over 7.5 tonnes and where there are more than 24 lorry movements per day. It has limited grounds on which it can refuse an application and these are set out in Schedule 17 of the HS2 Act 2017.

*Source of article : Press release from Buckinghamshire Council.