Lord Berkeley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Berkeley on 2016-05-09.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what criteria are used by HS2 Ltd to challenge the locus standi of petitioners to the Lords Select Committee.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

The rules relating to locus standi are set out in the Lords Standing Orders for Private Business 114-118 and the basis for our decisions was included in a note that accompanied the challenge notices sent to petitioners last week. The note explained that individuals or businesses whose property or interests are directly and specially affected by the scheme have locus. Therefore, petitioners who are listed in the Book of Reference, and whose property and interests may well be affected, have not been challenged. Local authorities on the route, who may have locus at the discretion of the Select Committee, have not been challenged, as they will represent issues pertaining to the inhabitants of their area. Individual petitioners have been challenged when their property or interests are not affected by the scheme or where this affect is not sufficiently different from that of the general public.

Standing Orders also allow discretionary locus for groups representing amenity or recreational interests. Groups have only been challenged on the basis that they do not sufficiently represent amenity or recreational interests or other petitioners have a much stronger claim to represent such interests.

The Government has also chosen not to challenge members of this House, where they are not directly and specially affected, in keeping with the approach taken in the Other Place.