HS2 railway, UK – the parliamentary process to Royal Assent

The parliamentary process for a hybrid bill incorporates aspects of both public and private bill procedures. The key
differences from the process followed by normal government (i.e. public) legislation are a consultation on the
environmental statement and select committee (SC) stages in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
For the bulk of its time in parliament, which typically spans a number of parliamentary sessions and can even span a
general election, a hybrid bill will be in SC in one house or the other. The bill for phase 1 of HS2 completed its
passage through parliament faster than the bill for Crossrail had, despite being significantly more contentious both
nationally and locally, and receiving nearly six times as many objections (known as petitions). By any objective
measure, the promotion of the bill was a success. This paper will explain the process for passing a hybrid bill in
generic terms, as well as expanding to refer to the specific processes undertaken by High Speed Two (HS2) Limited to
manage the SC, stakeholders, costs and associated governance in its delivery of the High Speed Two (London–West
Midlands) Act.