Wellbeing Impact Study of HS2
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Wellbeing Impact Study of HS2
IRAS ID
302856
Contact name
Katherine Morley
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
RAND Europe
ISRCTN Number
ISRCTN58916738
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
Study pre-registration, doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN58916738
Duration of Study in the UK
10 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
The aim of this study is to understand how the High-Speed Rail 2 development (HS2), a large national transport project, might affect the mental health and wellbeing of people who live near the railway line. We will investigate whether any impacts on mental health and wellbeing vary by groups within these communities, including people who already have mental health conditions.
We will look at how HS2 may affect mental health and wellbeing over time from initial planning to the point where it is being used by passengers. We will do three things: (i) survey people asking questions about their physical and mental health and wellbeing, including things that may affect this like having a job or good relationships with friends and family; (ii) group meetings and interviews with people who complete the survey and local GPs and nursing staff to discuss issues raised in the survey in more detail; (iii) analysis of anonymous information that GP practices provide to the government about the health and wellbeing of their patients. We will do this multiple times during the development of HS2. This information will tell us whether the mental health and wellbeing of people living near HS2 changes over time (during planning, construction, and use), and we will compare this to changes in other communities that are very similar apart from not being near HS2. If changes over time are the same no matter how close people live to HS2 then this suggests it is not the cause of any changes. Following consultation with the funders of this research and the grant manager, the study has also been revised and we will now investigate the impact of the change to the original HS2 Phase 2b route, as well as the impact of the parts of the route that are proceeding as planned.
Learning from this study will contribute to the design and assessment of later phases of the HS2 scheme. This research will develop a new way of understanding how transport projects can affect people’s mental health and wellbeing and help to develop ways of supporting communities where these projects are built.
REC name
East of England - Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
22/EE/0292
Date of REC Opinion
20 Jan 2023
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion