Managing our impact on the environment

The veteran pear tree in Warwickshire, named by locals as ‘The Cubbington Pear Tree’ will live on in the form of regrown saplings as part of our environment programme to support delicately balanced local ecosystems, creating create larger and more joined up habitats along the HS2 route .

More than 40 new trees have been grown from cuttings taken from the tree which was located in a hedgerow south of South Cubbington Wood, on land that is being prepared for Britain’s new railway. Over the last few years we have worked with the local community and expert horticulturalists to make sure that the tree has a lasting legacy for future generations.

In 2014, horticulture expert Paul Labous from Shuttleworth Agricultural College started to graft the tree from cuttings provided by the Cubbington community. After confirming the DNA from the parent tree was suitable for grafting onto a young pear seedling, he successfully created grafted plants and presented the first one back to the community in 2015.

Paul's methodology has since informed a larger-scale project being managed by Crowder’s Nurseries in Lincolnshire on our behalf. Over 40 young pear trees have now been grown from cuttings, ready to be planted in new habitats being created by our enabling works contractor LM JV (Laing O’Rourke and J. Murphy & Sons Joint Venture) during the next few months.

The trees will be planted across new woodland sites to broaden the genetic diversity of this species in the area, with some being situated next to the wood, creating a legacy very close to the pear tree's original location. We are also keen to work with the local community to find other locations for saplings in and around Cubbington village. Around South Cubbington Wood, we will plant 6.2 hectares of broadleaved wood to compensate for the 2 hectares of habitat affected by the railway. This will link the habitats of South Cubbington Wood and the River Leam Corridor, with 2 hectares of ancient woodland soils being translocated to join up South Cubbington Wood and Weston Wood.

Around 80,000 trees have already been planted in the region and 40 ponds created, along with many acres of wetland, heathland and meadow providing new wildlife habitats including badger setts, bat houses, bird boxes and reptile banks to help local wildlife populations thrive and support delicately balanced local ecosystems.

Up to 7 million trees will eventually be planted along Phase One, with many new recreational areas for communities to enjoy. Over 60 new habitat sites have already been created from Hillingdon to North Warwickshire, which support a range of habitats including grassland, woodland and scrub, ponds and features such as bat boxes, hibernaculum for newts and basking banks for reptiles.

Of the 43 ancient woodlands affected by HS2’s route between London and Crewe, 80% of the total area will remain intact and not impacted. In Warwickshire alone, for those areas of woodland that will have to be removed, we will offset this by planting 14.5 hectares of new broadleaved woodland – almost double the area affected, with the new planting designed to provide better connection to existing features and habitats.

A separate fund will also help local landowners create new native, broadleaf woodlands and restore existing ancient woodland sites. Through our Woodland Fund, a total of £7m is supporting projects in Phase One and Phase 2a. The first £1.2m has already been allocated as part of a grant scheme managed on our behalf by the Forestry Commission.

Over the past few years, we have been creating a series of new wildlife habitats in Warwickshire and Solihull.

In order to construct these ‘ecological mitigation sites’, we have been conducting comprehensive surveys of local ecology to identify wildlife and protected species, with a view to designing our sites around their needs.

In certain areas, we'll be removing some trees at a small number of ancient woodlands to prepare the route of the railway for future construction activity. This will be followed by the translocation of the existing ancient woodland soils to new woodland sites nearby. This will involve a specific and careful process designed to maintain the valuable biodiversity that currently exists in the soils. Once translocated, each site will be carefully monitored and managed over the next fifty years to encourage the regeneration of the woodland.

Crucially, the new woodlands will be part of an unprecedented ‘green corridor’ of new wildlife habitats and woodlands alongside the railway, including 7 million new trees and shrubs between London and the West Midlands.

All our ecology works are carried out within the necessary regulations, including licences from Natural England. In accordance with the law, qualified ecologists will be on site to ensure wildlife species are protected, including checking and monitoring the area for nesting birds, and taking action to safeguard them from any of our works.

We undertake our ecological work in accordance within the necessary regulations, powers and licences. This includes our unprecedented programme of wildlife surveys and new habitat creation.

Our approach is guided by the HS2 Act of Parliament and its Environmental Minimum Requirements. Ultimately, we are required to obtain the appropriate licenses from Natural England before undertaking any works that affect protected wildlife species. This includes species protected by the Habitats Regulations 2010 and the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (as amended).

We have organisational licences for work affecting great crested newts and badgers along the Phase One route, which are renewed every two years. Both we and our contractors obtain licences for works affecting other protected species on a site-by-site basis.

We aim to build the most sustainable high speed railway in the world. Alongside improving connectivity and boosting the economy, it’s crucial that we manage our impact on the existing, natural environment.

To help do this, we’re going to create a network of new wildlife habitats, woodlands and community spaces, helping to leave a lasting legacy along the route. We're calling this our ' green corridor ' to help integrate HS2 into the landscape, with the design of the railway respecting its surroundings. It will include a network of habitats ranging from woodlands and meadows to wetlands and ponds. They will replace any habitats affected by the construction of HS2, while conserving and enhancing some too.

To do this, we will create:

Inevitably, HS2 is going to leave a footprint on the British countryside. That’s something we want to carefully manage, while improving the environment where we can. To do this at a local level, we've got a series of Local Environment Management Plans for the Phase One route. These plans set out the site-specific control measures for HS2 contractors working within local authorities along the Phase One route.

Click to view or download the Local Environment Management Plan for your area.

If you have any questions about HS2 or our works, please contact our HS2 Helpdesk team on 08081 434 434 or email hs2enquiries@hs2.org.uk .