London,
18
March
2016
|
17:51
Europe/London

HS2: Prepare for petitioning

Camden residents, businesses and organisations have the opportunity to petition on the High Speed 2 (HS2) Bill – and it’s time to get prepared.

The HS2 Bill has passed its Third Reading in the House of Commons and is now in the House of Lords for review.

If you are ‘specially and directly affected’ by plans for HS2, you can petition the House of Lords.

The House of Lords petitioning period has now begun and will end at 5pm on Monday, 18 April 2016.

We’ve summarised the key points you need to know about petitioning the HS2 Bill in the House of Lords and the support Camden Council will provide you with below.

Support from Camden Council

We held two petitioning workshops on for residents and businesses on the House of Lords petitioning process. View the full presentations from Sharpe Pritchard and Camden Council from these events.

Through petitioning the House of Commons and its Select Committee, Camden Council have already secured over 100 assurances to mitigate the impacts of HS2 on residents and businesses. Read about what these mean for you. We believe there is more HS2 should be doing, for example, on compensation and community engagement.

Camden Council will be holding a petitioning hand in session in Committee Room 3 in the Town Hall, Judd Street, WC1H 9JE on Friday, 15 April 2016 between 10am and 2pm.

You can also submit your petition directly to the House of Lords in person, by email or by post. Read full details about petition submission.

Key points on petitioning

  • You can only petition if you are ‘specially and directly affected’ by proposals for HS2 (see definition of ‘specially and directly affected’ in these Frequently Asked Questions).
  • You can petition whether or not you petitioned on the Bill in the House of Commons.
  • You will have to pay a £20 fee to petition in the House of Lords (even if you previously paid £20 to petition in the House of Commons). If your petition is rejected on the grounds of not having 'locus standi' - essentially if you are not 'specially and directly affected' - you will not be eligible for a refund.
  • You can submit your petition in person, via post or via email.
  • Read these Frequently Asked Questions to understand the differences between Roll A Agents and Roll B Agents.

Full guidance on petitioning

You can find more details on the above points, including how you should structure your petition, guidance on its content and its submission, in the House of Lords Petitioning Kit. A template petition and a document checklist for submission are also available. Please note the differences between submitting a petition in the House of Lords to the House of Commons.

You can also email your questions to [email protected]