High Speed Two Limited

The complainant has requested information relating to whether there was a need to extend the High Speed Two rail project by up to twelve months. High Speed Two Limited (HS2 Ltd) refused the request under a variety of exceptions. The exact same request had been made nearly two years earlier and the refusal of the earlier request was in the process of being appealed to the Information Tribunal. Therefore when the complainant asked HS2 Ltd to carry out an internal review of its decision to refuse the new request, it refused to do so until the Information Tribunal had reached a decision in respect of the earlier request. The Commissioner’s decision is that HS2 Ltd failed to comply with its duty under regulation 11 of the EIR to consider the complainant’s representations to carry out a review of its decision to refuse his request. The Commissioner requires the public authority conduct an internal review in accordance with its obligations under regulation 11.