<p>Valuation of different land types is based on the values in the Department for Communities and Local Government document “Valuing the external benefits of undeveloped land” and is not unique to HS2.</p><p>For the purposes of the HS2 economic landscape assessment we valued land in perpetuity rather than per year, and the lowest valued category of land was priced at £9,820 per hectare.</p><p>The land between Amersham and the Chilterns northern edge was given the highest valuation per hectare along the entire HS2 route, even though 78% of the land in the section falls into the “agriculture intensive or extensive” category which is valued at £9,820 per hectare. This is because of the high value placed upon the remaining 22% of land.</p><p>It is also important to bear in mind that the monetary value attributed to land is not the only factor in decision making. For example, landscape specialists will be making visual assessments of the quality of landscape as part of the Environmental Impact Assessment and this information will be important to the route design process.</p>