A senior Conservative has raised fears that HS2 will increase the risk of homes near the route being flooded.

According to the Guardian, the Conservative minister for Europe, David Lidington, the MP for Aylesbury, has written to transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin saying his constituents are concerned about the impact HS2 may have on flood risk.

He wrote: “You will not be surprised to hear the residents are very fearful that the construction and operation of HS2 across the floodplain close to their homes will add significantly to the flood risk.

“It is indisputable that both construction and operation will require farmland to be taken which for now soaks up surface water and which ought to act as natural flood protection for my constituents.

“People in this part of Aylesbury are sceptical about the assurances from HS2 that they will design in effective flood protection measures.”

According to the Guardian, Liberal Democrat flooding minister Dan Rogerson, has admitted the scale of the flood risk associated with HS2 has not been fully assessed for the first phase of the route from London to Birmingham.

The HS2 route is set to cross more than 100 watercourses, each of which will have a degree of flood risk associated with them.

He said: “The scale of that risk will depend on the precise alignment of the route. At present this has not been fully assessed, nor has an assessment been made for the phase two routes.”

HS2 has said it is aiming to avoid an increase in flood risk by using water management techniques and viaducts.

But its team has conducted new surveys of the line between London and Birmingham during the recent wet weather.

An HS2 spokesman said: “During the recent wet weather we have been carrying out visual inspections where the planned line between London and Birmingham crosses watercourses.

“We will continue with these types of surveys where access has been made available as part of the route development.

“HS2 will be designed to remain operational during a one in 1,000-year flood event. Put simply, that means the railway is being built so that it can withstand just the sort of extreme weather that we have seen up and down and the country recently.”

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