Some Background to the issues regarding HS2:
It all started with HS1 (High Speed Rail1),
the high speed rail link from London St. Pancras International Station to Europe, via The Channel Tunnel. The cost to the
taxpayer of building HS1 was £5.8 Billion, the majority of which was never
recovered before it was sold off to a Canadian teacher's pension fund for just
£1.5 Billion - just a quarter of it's build cost. The past inevitably
predicts the future, so why do the government
think the £35 Billion HS2 will be any the more successful?
HS2 is projected to involve seven years of construction work
and in some places a 75 metre (83 yard) wide strip of greenbelt land will be
turned to concrete, due to 25 metre ‘no vegetation zones’ on either side of the
track. To put
that into context, the pitch at Wembley is only 69 metres wide. The plans state
that where the trains will travel at top speed, the tracks will have to be 25
metres to stop passing trains blowing each other off the rails - hence the
requirement for the 25 metre ‘No vegetation zone’ on either side.
HS2 will cut right through the heart of the countryside at a
noise level of 95 decibels. The noise level at which sustained exposure could
cause permanent hearing damage is 90-95dB. It’s not planned to go next to
motorways (existing transport corridors) as that would cost even more and to
travel at ‘high speed’, the line has to be very straight.
This will create massive social damage to towns and villages
along the line. While the government say it is ‘good for business’, HS1 and the
M6 Toll were justified for the same reasons, but have not delivered the promised
benefits. All they have delivered is large losses. The business case takes no
account of businesses which will be destroyed, and businesses will only get land
value when it comes to compensation.
HS2 will of course lead to the filling in of greenbelts, as
once they are blighted by up to 40 trains per hour (1 per 90 seconds), a quarter
of a mile long, going past at 250mph, creating 95dB noise, it’s not going to be
a green belt any more. There is also the potential for extensive development
around the Birmingham International station as a result of this plan
The preferred route for HS2 involves tunnelling under Amersham, through
Great Missenden and on via Wendover. However, if the preferred route is not approved, the next preferred
route will be tunnelled under Hazlemere Golf course then on under the centre of
Widmer End. This will take 5.5 years and when completed the entrance to the
tunnel near the golf course will be surrounded by a facility to service the
tunnels the size of a village - acres of infrastructure for emergency vehicles
in case of a tunnel fire and service vehicles to maintain the tunnels. This will
change Hazlemere forever!
HS2 (High Speed Rail 2) is the government's proposed high speed rail
link between London and Birmingham - then potentially onwards to Scotland! Read
the background to the HS2 project here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Speed_2#Government_rationale
Before you register your vote,
you may first like to browse some of the links below then, to register your objections to
HS2, please click on the following link now and complete the questions
http://highspeedrail.dft.gov.uk/have-your-say Make your voice heard
and register YOUR
objections - Please do it NOW!
This is the response to the HS2 plans from Chiltern District Council, one of 13
councils who are part of the 51M group - so called because each parliamentary
constituency along the route of HS2 will pay £51million towards the cost:
http://www.cholesbury.com/pdf/51M-hs2-response.pdf
Please be aware
that "the biggest mistake people can make is to object to the route for
HS2" according to campaigners. The exact route HS2 will take is not being
decided until a decision is taken to proceed with the project. If they decide to
go ahead and build HS2 the route will be decided after the go-ahead decision is
taken. The only way to object is to object to the whole project - NOT the
route. To agree to one particular route for HS2 but not another will be
interpreted as agreement per se to the HS2 project. With enough agreement
the project will go ahead and THEN the route will be chosen - it could well be a
route by you!
