HS2 construction complaints in Solihull and there's a 'common theme'

Noisy construction work at night is among the complaints Solihull residents have made during the building of HS2. Solihull Council gave planning approval to HS2 Interchange Station in 2020. It will serve Solihull, Birmingham Airport and the NEC.

But the building of the high speed rail line to it - which will slash travel times between Birmingham and London once built - has meant a number of major construction projects in the Solihull borough. At the recent meeting of the HS2 Implementation Advisory Group at Solihull Council members heard of the recent complaints made by the public about the work already underway.

The complaints, which took place between April and June this year, for each area included:

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Bickenhill

• Traffic and transport highway

Castle Bromwich

• Traffic and transport traffic lights

Chelmsley Wood

• Report an observation/improvement

• Traffic and transport - personal property damage

Knowle

• Two traffic and transport lorry controls on routes

Meriden

• Five complaints of noise and vibration from construction at night - 7pm – 7am

• Noise and vibration noise and vibration - general

• Acquisitions claims and payments

• Community engagement literature - quality of literature

• Public response complaints

• Traffic and transport signage – advanced warning signing of highway works

• General site requirements - cranes

Tahir Ahmed, senior engagement and interface manager at Balfour Beatty Vinci - HS2's construction partner for the West Midlands - said: “The common theme here is what we normally see around the traffic management, lorry movements, and noise from some of our works. We do take complaints seriously. When they are reported, they are reported to the HS2 help desk.

“They are logged and tracked. It will come through to my team, we will investigate. We either go out and meet the complainant or telephone them, and share a final response once we have investigated.”

He asked councillors to pass on any complaints from residents so they could investigate them. While the northern leg of the line was scrapped last year, phase one between London and Birmingham is expected to open between 2029 and 2033.

The meeting took place at the Civic Suite on July 25.

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