British Waterways is establishing a project team to respond to the formal public consultation on High Speed Two (HS2) launched today [28 Feb 2011].

British Waterways has requested a meeting with HS2's Stakeholder Engagement Team to fully understand the detailed route for HS2 and to assess its impact on any affected canals, navigable rivers, operational and non-operational
land, heritage assets, wildlife sites, canal restorations schemes and other important sites and assets that we are responsible for. We will aim to ensure that any impacts are mitigated and, where possible, enhanced. We will also be investigating the impact of the proposals on the
waterways' commercial interests.

At this early stage, we are reviewing the potential interfaces between the proposed route of HS2 and our network to establish a strategic understanding of potential impacts. We will be able to comment further once detailed investigations have been carried out as part of the formal public consultations.

This project team will be led by Ian Runeckles (Strategic Planning Manager-South).

(taken from The Freedom of Information site, What Do They Know.com)