Guidance

HS2 site restoration requests

Published 2 July 2025

Applies to England

Introduction

This guidance is intended to assist local authorities and other parties in navigating the HS2 site restoration process in accordance with the High Speed Rail (London – West Midlands) Act 2017 (‘the Act’). It sets out how the Secretaries of State intend to discharge their statutory responsibilities and may be varied or revoked.

The Act sets out site restoration requirements for land that has been used in connection with the High Speed 2 (HS2) Phase One project by the ‘nominated undertaker’, but that is not required on a permanent basis. These site restoration requirements are contained in Schedules 16 and 17 to the Act. The site restoration provisions in the 2 schedules are similar, but not identical.

The schedule 16 provisions apply where land has been possessed temporarily and is to be returned to its owner. For land subject to schedule 16, the nominated undertaker must seek to agree a site restoration scheme with the owners of the land and the relevant planning authority.

The schedule 17 provisions apply where land has been acquired permanently (and may be earmarked for resale or may be retained as part of the permanent mitigation for the railway). For land subject to schedule 17, the nominated undertaker must seek to agree a site restoration scheme with the relevant planning authority.

Where a site restoration scheme is agreed with the landowner and relevant planning authority under schedule 16, or relevant planning authority under schedule 17, the nominated undertaker must carry out the restoration in accordance with this agreed scheme.

In some cases, it may not be possible to reach an agreement on the proposed restoration scheme within the relevant periods referred to in schedule 16 and schedule 17. In these cases, the scheme may be determined by the Secretary of State for Transport and the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (together ‘the appropriate ministers’).

For schedule 16, this will follow consultation with the nominated undertaker, the landowners and the relevant planning authority. For schedule 17 matters, this will follow consultation with the nominated undertaker and the relevant planning authority.

The latter process for ministerial determination may also be used in relation to a ‘reserved particular’ under 12(7) of schedule 17. Essentially, this relates to an element of a restoration scheme – a ‘particular’ – which was excluded when the original scheme was agreed and ‘reserved’ for later agreement. Note that there is no equivalent provision under schedule 16.

This process will take time and use public resources and so should only be considered after all parties having acted reasonably have failed to achieve a resolution between themselves.

Site restoration under schedule 16 (land possessed temporarily)

Paragraph 1 of schedule 16 gives the nominated undertaker the power to enter on and take temporary possession of land for purposes specified in part 4 of schedule 16, such as for work sites and construction access, and for phase one purposes more generally.

Paragraph 5 of schedule 16 provides that before this land is returned, the nominated undertaker must seek to agree a site restoration scheme for that land with the landowners and the relevant planning authority. If a scheme is agreed, the nominated undertaker must then put the land into the condition set out in this agreed scheme to the reasonable satisfaction of the owners of the land.

Schedule 16 paragraph 5(2) states that, if a scheme is not agreed within 6 months after cessation of use of the land in question, the scheme may be determined by the appropriate ministers after consulting the nominated undertaker, the owners of the land and the relevant planning authority.

The relevant landowner, the relevant planning authority or the nominated undertaker may request that ministers determine the scheme if an agreement is not reached within 6 months after cessation of use of the land in question.

The default position is that a schedule 16 site restoration scheme will provide for land to be restored to its former condition unless the parties agree otherwise. Such a scheme will not provide for the nominated undertaker to replace a structure that has been removed unless the nominated undertaker agrees to this. This is with the exception of a fence.

Site restoration under schedule 17 (land acquired permanently)

Some land has been permanently acquired for HS2. Some of this land is being used for the scheduled works permitted under section 1 of the Act and some for works permitted under section 2 of the Act (section 2 – authorised works).

Any sites which are used to accommodate permanent works authorised by the Act are, by definition, not being restored and it is consequently not necessary to agree a scheme of site restoration for such sites.

Permanent works are subject to separate provisions under the Act, for example, the approvals of plans and specifications for work under paragraphs 2 or 3 of schedule 17.

Some of the land being permanently acquired is only needed to aid the construction of the scheduled works. These sites are used for operations which are ancillary to the construction of any of the scheduled works. ‘Ancillary operations’ is not defined in the Act but can be taken to mean a broad range of activities associated with the wider construction process for HS2.

Under paragraph 12(1) of schedule 17, once the nominated undertaker no longer needs a site for ancillary operations, the site must be restored in accordance with a site restoration scheme. In such a scenario, agreement to the site restoration scheme must be sought from the relevant planning authority.

Paragraph 12(1) of schedule 17 refers only to sites used for operations which are ancillary to the construction of any of the scheduled works (for example, those permitted under section 1). The site restoration provisions do not refer to land used for section 2-authorised works or land used for operations ancillary to the construction of section 2-authorised works.

As explained above, permanent section 2-authorised works will be subject to other Act provisions rather than restoration. Sites used for operations ancillary to section 2-authorised works are, in practice, likely to be relatively small in number. In these cases, the nominated undertaker will restore such sites in line with the requirements of the environmental minimum requirements, such as those in the environmental memorandum.

The site restoration provisions in schedule 17 apply to land acquired permanently and do not apply to site restoration of land where the nominated undertaker took temporary possession (see schedule 16 section above for information on these schemes).

Also, schedule 17 site restoration provisions do not apply to restoration of land used for waste and soil disposal or excavation of borrow pits that occur in some locations and are subject to a separate process of approval by a planning authority under paragraph 8 of schedule 17.

Schedule 17 paragraph 12(3) states that the nominated undertaker must submit a proposed scheme to the relevant planning authority within 4 months of the date that it discontinues use of the site for ancillary operations.

If the nominated undertaker does not submit a restoration scheme within this period, or if no scheme has been agreed within 8 weeks of submission (or such longer period as the nominated undertaker and local planning authority may agree) then the scheme is to be determined by the appropriate ministers after consulting the nominated undertaker and the local planning authority.

The requirement for site restoration in accordance with a scheme applies both to land to be retained by the nominated undertaker and to land which may be disposed of.

Ministerial determinations of site restoration schemes

Where a site restoration scheme has not been agreed within the relevant period, the appropriate ministers make a decision on what the site restoration scheme should be. For land which was temporarily possessed, this is set out in paragraph 5(2) of schedule 16 and for land which was permanently acquired, this is set out in paragraph 12(4) and 12(7) of schedule 17.

The appropriate ministers have appointed the Planning Inspectorate to assist them in making site restoration determinations. It is intended that the majority of the nominated undertaker’s site restoration schemes that are referred to the appropriate ministers would be processed and considered by inspectors from the Planning Inspectorate on their behalf, with the decision ultimately being reserved to the appropriate ministers.

The Inspector would write a report that would make a recommendation on the form that the site restoration scheme should take. This would then be passed to the appropriate ministers to make the decision, taking into account the inspector’s recommendation.

The Planning Inspectorate would be responsible for administering many of the procedures involved in processing ministerial decisions on site restoration schemes. Therefore, while the relevant parts of schedules 16 and 17 may refer to the appropriate ministers, the majority of activities would, in practice, be carried out by the Inspectorate on behalf of the appropriate ministers.

Schedule 16 paragraph 5(2) and schedule 17 paragraphs 12(4) and 12(7) provide that a ministerial decision on a site restoration scheme can only be taken following consultation with the nominated undertaker and the relevant planning authority and, in the case of schedule 16, following consultation with the landowners as well.

This consultation should take place in writing, and the procedure of determining a site restoration scheme is expected to be a written process, with written representations from the relevant parties as detailed below. Since matters of principle were determined during the passage of the act, a written representations procedure rather than hearings or inquiries is the most appropriate route. However, except as otherwise provided within this guidance, the appointed inspector may determine the procedure as required.

Unlike the process for appeals in relation to planning approvals under schedule 17, there are no regulations which set out detailed procedural requirements for ministerial determinations of site restoration schemes. This guidance therefore sets out the written representations procedure that the parties would be expected to follow if they cannot reach an agreement on a site restoration scheme within the specified period.

A request for determination by the appropriate ministers under schedule 16 can be made by the relevant planning authority, the landowner or the nominated undertaker. A request for determination under schedule 17 can be made by the relevant planning authority or the nominated undertaker.

Written representations procedure

Restoration determination requests

If the schedule 16 parties cannot reach agreement on a site restoration scheme within the 6-month period specified above, or if the schedule 17 parties cannot reach agreement within the period specified above, then any of the schedule 16 or 17 parties (as applicable) may submit a ‘Restoration determination request’. Download a copy of the restoration guidance request form from the GOV.UK landing page for this guidance.

Any schedule 16 or Schedule 17 party that submits a restoration determination request (the requester) should notify the other party or parties of its intention to submit a restoration determination request 10 days before its submission.

A restoration determination request must provide the most recent draft of the proposed site restoration scheme (if available) and explain why the requester considers it necessary to make a restoration determination request. The form, together with supporting documents, will comprise the requester’s statement of case, with the exception of any final representations.

The requester should submit all necessary documentation with the restoration determination request, or as soon as practicable afterwards. Failure to supply all the necessary documentation within a reasonable timescale may result in the rejection of the restoration determination request. In that case, either the requester or one of the other schedule 16 parties or schedule 17 parties would have to make a new restoration determination request.

The requester should send its restoration determination request and all supporting documents to the Planning Inspectorate, copying in the other schedule 16 parties or the schedule 17 party. The other schedule 16 parties or the schedule 17 party, which did not make the restoration determination request, are known as ‘the respondents’. All parties – both the requester and the respondents, as well as the Planning Inspectorate – are strongly encouraged to make use of email as the preferred format for the submission and exchange of documents.

Following receipt of a restoration determination request, the Planning Inspectorate shall notify all parties of the date from which the process for making a restoration determination is to be taken to start (the starting date). It is anticipated that the Planning Inspectorate will normally take no more than 5 working days from receipt of a properly completed restoration determination request to send out written notification of the starting date. The Planning Inspectorate will also:

• allocate a reference number to the restoration determination process
• confirm the address of the site to which the restoration determination process relates
• confirm the email address to which all future correspondence should be sent

Timetable for restoration determinations

Once the starting date has been set by the Planning Inspectorate, the remaining stages of the restoration determination process should follow the timetable set out in this guidance. To aid understanding of this timetable, a summary table of the main steps and likely timings can be found below.

The respondents should, within a period of 15 working days beginning with the starting date, submit to the Planning Inspectorate, copying in the other parties, a completed statement in the form that is downloadable from the GOV.UK landing page. Any respondent may also submit a supporting statement in addition to the statement within that same time period.

The requester may wish to respond to the points made by the other parties in their statements and (if any) supporting statements, and, in that case, shall submit representations to that effect to the Planning Inspectorate, copying in the other parties. Representations in relation to a statement or supporting statement should be sent (by the requester) within a period of 10 working days beginning on the date that the statement or supporting statement was sent to the Respondent(s).

If the representation submitted by the requester raises a new matter not contained in the restoration determination request, the respondents may submit representations in respect of this new matter only. In this case, the respondents should do so within a period of 15 working days beginning with the date the Planning Inspectorate sent the representation to them, copying in the other parties, in respect of that new matter.

Each party must ensure that any document it submits to the Planning Inspectorate is also sent at the same time to the other schedule 16 parties or schedule 17 parties.

Restoration determination decisions

If the Planning Inspectorate does not receive the relevant documents from either the requester or any respondents (as applicable) by any of the deadlines above, it will proceed to make its final report on the site restoration scheme. Otherwise, the Planning Inspectorate will proceed to issuing its report after the final representations are made by the respondent on any new matters.

The Planning Inspectorate will aim to make its recommendation as to the final form of the site restoration scheme within 25 working days of the respondent’s deadline for submitting representations in response to any new matters raised in the requester’s representations.

If a site visit is necessary and where the Inspector appointed by the Planning Inspectorate can adequately view the site from public land, an unaccompanied site visit will be arranged.

Where the site cannot adequately be viewed from public land, an access site visit (ASV) will be arranged. In many cases, the land is likely to be under the control of the nominated undertaker and, therefore, it will be in the nominated undertaker’s interests to arrange access as soon as possible in collaboration with the Planning Inspectorate. The Planning Inspectorate will be responsible for arranging the date and time for the ASV and will advise the schedule 16 parties or schedule 17 parties of these details, and it is expected that all the parties will be represented at ASVs. During ASVs, the merits, or otherwise, of the case cannot be discussed before the inspector.

Where access to private land needs to be arranged (whether this be the application site itself or other land), the Planning Inspectorate will arrange a site visit and obtain the landowner’s consent. If possible, a coordinated approach is encouraged so that the application site and other related sites can be visited around the same time (rather than on separate days). If the relevant landowners do not grant access in a timely manner, the Planning Inspectorate will proceed with the application process using the information provided by the respondent and requester.

The Planning Inspectorate will aim to issue its report to the appropriate ministers within 25 working days of either the respondent’s closing representations, if submitted, or of establishing that there are not to be closing representations, whichever is the earlier. In the event of exceptional circumstances inhibiting this timeline being met, the Planning Inspectorate will confirm the delay and expected completion date to all parties as soon as is practically possible.

The overall timescale from the starting date to the Inspector’s report for this written process should be up to 15 weeks depending mainly on whether the principal parties submit all documents at the stages they are entitled to, the degree to which the parties need to submit representations, and the length of time required for the Inspector to consider the case and write a report.

The decision letter will be issued by the appropriate ministers, who will explain why they have come to the decision reached. The appropriate ministers will be responsible for forwarding copies of the decision letter to the schedule 16 parties or schedule 17 parties, as applicable.

Timeline for determination of site restoration scheme

The timeline described in the table below gives an indicative summary of the stages in the restoration determination process.

Unless otherwise stated, ‘days’ refers to working days and the number of days refers to the number of working days from the starting date.

Table 1: action to be taken before the ‘start date’ of a site restoration determination request

Stage	Person or body	Action	Time period
1	Requester	Requester to notify the other schedule 16 or schedule 17 parties ‘Respondents’ of its intention to submit a restoration determination request at least 10 days before submission	10 days before submission of restoration determination request
2	Planning Inspectorate	The Planning Inspectorate receives the restoration determination request from the requester which can be downloaded from on the GOV.UK landing page for this guidance. The Planning Inspectorate will then notify all parties of the starting date	5 days from receipt of restoration determination request

Table 2: action to be taken after the ‘start date’ of a site determination request

Stage	Person or body	Action	Time period
1	Respondents	All respondents shall submit to the Planning Inspectorate and copy to the other parties: (i) a completed statement in the form (downloadable here) (ii) a supporting statement within 15 days of the starting date (if it wishes to do so)	15 days
2	Requester	The requester may submit to the Planning Inspectorate representations in response to points made by respondents in their statement and any supporting statements within 10 days beginning on the date on which the statement and any supporting statement were sent to them. Any submissions must be copied to the other parties at the same time	10 days
3	Planning Inspectorate	If the requester does not submit any representations to the Planning Inspectorate under point 2 above, no further exchanges will take place and the Planning Inspectorate will proceed to issue its recommendation report as to the final form of the site restoration scheme	-
4	Respondents	Respondents may submit to the Planning Inspectorate representations in response to any new matters raised in the requester’s representations submitted at point 2 above within 15 days beginning on the date on which the Planning Inspectorate sent the representation to the Respondent. Any submissions must be copied to the other parties at the same time. After this time, no further written exchanges will take place	15 days
5	Planning Inspectorate	The Planning Inspectorates’s site visit	5 days
6	Planning Inspectorate	The Planning Inspectorate’s determination. The Planning Inspectorate will aim to issue its recommendation as to the final form of the site restoration scheme within 20 days of the end of the deadline in point 4 above	20 days
7	Appropriate ministers	The appropriate ministers will consider the Planning Inspectorate’s recommendation on the site restoration scheme. A joint decision will be issued by MHCLG and DfT, on behalf of the appropriate ministers	-