Land Interest Questionnaires (LIQ) FAQs

A Land Interest Questionnaire (LIQ) is part of the planning process for large-scale developments such as East West Rail. The LIQ is issued to help us identify the people and organisations with legal interests in land that may be affected by our project. This process, called "Land Referencing," is all part of obtaining planning permission to build the new railway via a Development Consent Order (DCO). 

Completing an LIQ is important because your response helps ensure we know who owns, occupies and uses the land. Having this information means we can keep you fully informed about our consultations and, later down the line, involvement in the DCO process. 

To reassure you, the LIQ is a fact gathering exercise only and if you decide not to complete it you will still be able to participate in the DCO process. 

The information you provide helps us create the legally required documents for our DCO application and ensures your interests are accurately reflected. Please see the further questions below for more details about what happens with the information you provide. 

We are currently refining our proposals for East West Rail, which will provide much needed connectivity for the communities between Oxford, Milton Keynes, Bedford and Cambridge.   

As part of the development of our proposals, and as part of the pre-application process before submitting our DCO application, we regularly gather information on land ownership from HM Land Registry (HMLR). This information allows us to identify who owns land and homes along our route. It also ensures that all parties potentially affected by the proposals are included in our communications, so you’ll have the opportunity to comment on the project as it develops.

We then issue the LIQs to confirm our records and to gather information about land ownership and any other land interests, such as tenants or other people or organisations who might use the land, but who may not be identified through desktop searches. 

As our project develops and we learn more, we may issue additional LIQs to capture new information or confirm existing details.  We will use a similar questionnaire process for verification, ensuring our records are always kept up-to-date and reflect all relevant interests. This approach is intended to ensure we have accurate records of who owns or has interests in the land relevant to our project. 

 

We are writing to ask you to complete the LIQ questionnaire to gather information about land and / or property that our searches have indicated you have an interest in. We ask you to confirm the interest you have in the land, for example, whether you are the freehold owner. 

In the LIQ, we also ask for details of any other parties with interests – such as freeholders, leaseholders, tenants, occupiers or those with rights of access or easements in the land. Each identified party with an interest will then receive their own individual LIQ to complete. 

Your information will be used to fulfil the statutory obligations of the project. Here is what your information will be used for:  

• Statutory documents: Information on all identified land interests will be included in the Book of Reference, a document we are legally required to submit to the Planning Inspectorate, in line with the Planning Act 2008, as part of our DCO application. The Book of Reference will be available to the public but the information it contains will be limited to your full name/company name, address and interest in the property. 

• Notifications: If you are listed in the Book of Reference, we will notify you when the application is accepted for examination by the Planning Inspectorate. Once the application has been accepted there will then be a public examination of the application. You'll then receive information on how to make representations about your land to the Planning Inspectorate for them to consider during the examination. 

• Keeping you informed: We will use your contact details to keep you updated about the project at key milestones.  

You can find more information on the Book of Reference in the Planning Act 2008 Guidance, Annex D, which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/planning-act-2008-procedures-for-the-compulsory-acquisition-of-land. 

We understand the importance of privacy and protecting your information. What you share in the LIQ will be handled in accordance with our privacy policy which can be found at: https://eastwestrail.co.uk/privacy-at-ewr-co.  

If you give us personal information about other people you must first make sure that you have obtained all necessary permission from them before you pass this information on to us. 

As part of our Land Referencing process, we may issue LIQs more than once during the development of the project. Land ownership and occupancy information can change at any time, because of this, LIQs ensure our records remain accurate and up to date. Even if you have previously completed an LIQ, we would be grateful if you could return one again, even if the previous information hasn’t changed.  

This engagement is part of our Land Referencing process to identify people and organisations with a legal interest in properties or land that may potentially, either directly or indirectly, be affected by our project. This is crucial to ensure we are keeping people and organisations informed and involved.  

If you have received an LIQ it means our recent Land Registry or other research suggest you might hold an interest in land potentially affected by the project.  

It is important to note that receiving an LIQ does not necessarily mean we will need to acquire or use your land or property for the project. For example, the project may affect land in different ways, for example it might be close to the railway, required for the project or impacted by the operation of the railway when constructed.  

You can see our updated proposals, including land that may be required for the project, on the Consultation page here. Feedback on these proposals was invited during our consultation, which ran from 14 April to 9 June 2026.  

If you believe you should have received an LIQ you are welcome to contact us using the details below. This is an ongoing process and we will issue additional LIQs to capture new information or confirm existing details. 

During our consultation - which ran from 14 April to 9 June 2026 the potential impacts on land and property for the project were published, these are available on the Consultation page of our website here.   

We understand that the community would like certainty in terms of the impact of the project on their property, land and businesses. We are developing our designs for the railway, as well as the extent of land and property needed to build and operate the project. If you would like to discuss how your land is affected, you can contact the Land & Property team directly by phone on 0330 838 7583. Alternatively, you can email us at [email protected] or by post at Freepost EAST WEST RAIL LAND.  

We also presented an overview of potential environmental impacts and mitigations and had experts on hand to talk to you about how our proposals impact you.  

At every stage in the project’s development, we are committed to talking to all those potentially affected by our proposals and looking for options to mitigate any negative impacts wherever possible and practicable.  

If your land and property is identified as potentially needed by the project in our consultation documents, you should consider taking independent professional advice, and we'd recommend you appoint a Chartered Surveyor with experience of compulsory purchase from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). Our Guide to the reimbursement of agent fees is currently being updated, this will be available on the East West Rail website soon. For any queries in the meantime, please contact us on the details provided.  

No, receiving (or not receiving) or completing an LIQ doesn't determine your eligibility for future compensation. The LIQ is an information gathering exercise. 

We understand that a two-week response time may be challenging, especially during the summer holidays where you may not be at home. This timeframe is meant as a prompt to encourage timely responses and keep the process moving smoothly.  

However, we value input from all landowners. If you are unable to respond within two weeks, don't worry. We will follow up with you directly and may even reach out in person to ensure we can gather as much information as possible. All responses, regardless of when they are received, will be carefully considered as part of our Land Referencing process. 

In most cases, you should be able to complete the LIQ yourself. However, if you would like assistance, please contact us using the details below and we will discuss how best we can assist you.  

If you consider that your circumstances mean that you require professional assistance, we encourage you to consider appointing an appropriate advisor. East West Railway Company will reimburse reasonable professional fees for completing your LIQ on your behalf - please request your advisor to get in touch with us.   

 

We will already hold mortgage lender details as these are publicly available through HM Land Registry (HMLR). We ask you to confirm these details through an LIQ to ensure that these details are up to date. 

A mortgage lender will also receive an LIQ themselves, as they have a registered interest. 

If you are selling your property, please speak to your solicitor or conveyancer and make them aware of the LIQ. 

If you are having difficulty selling your property because of the project, please contact us. We introduced the Need to Sell Property Scheme (NTS) Property scheme in 2023 to offer support to those that need to sell their property but are unable to do so because of the project. 

Details of the scheme, including eligibility criteria, are included in our Guide to the Need to Sell Property Scheme at: www.eastwestrail.co.uk/needtosell.   

If you want to speak to us about the Need to Sell Property Scheme, please contact the dedicated NTS team by phone on 0330 838 7583 or email us at [email protected]. 

Yes, please get in touch with us using the contact details below to discuss different translations.

Safeguarding letters and LIQs are issued for different purposes. The Safeguarding letter informs affected landowners and occupiers that the Safeguarding directions have been updated. The LIQ is used to help us confirm and update information relating to land ownership and occupation.  

If you have already received a safeguarding letter and the details we have sent to you on the plan included in the LIQ letter are accurate, that indicates the records we hold are correct – however we would still like confirmation of this and ask that you still complete and return the form attached.   

The updated Safeguarding directions are now available on our website, these can be found here.  

We kindly ask you to complete and return your LIQ to us even if you have recently contributed to the  consultation. The consultation process is designed to hear the publics views on the projects proposals. The LIQ is specifically used to gather and confirm information relating to land ownership and occupation.  

We recognise that both your circumstances and the information you provide can change. To keep our records accurate, please let us know about any changes in your circumstances or the details you have previously provided to us. 

Email us: [email protected]  

Message us: www.eastwestrail.co.uk/get-in-touch   

Call us: 0330 8387583 (24/7, but our dedicated Land & Property Team are available Mon - Fri, 9 am - 5 pm)  

Write to us: Freepost EAST WEST RAIL LAND  

Sign up for project updates: www.eastwestrail.co.uk  

Land Interest Questionnaires (LIQs) are an essential part of the planning process for projects like East West Rail. LIQs are being sent to all those who may have a legal interest in properties or land that may potentially be affected by our project, either directly or indirectly. Following consultation responses, we are writing to newly discovered parties to understand their interests. 

If you did not receive a letter notifying you about the consultation but you believe you should have because you have an interest in land within the draft Order Limits of the project, you are welcome to contact us using the details below.   

Email us: [email protected]   

Message us: www.eastwestrail.co.uk/get-in-touch    

Call us: 0330 8387583 (24/7, but our dedicated Land & Property Team are available Mon - Fri, 9 am - 5 pm)   

Write to us: Freepost EAST WEST RAIL LAND