CPRE says HS2 will be an eyesore and better plans should be made to hide it. Meanwhile HS2 Ltd claims its ugly photo montages aren’t reality, BBC London News, 3rd May 2014.
It’s unfortunate that CPRE have only just got round to realising how bad the HS2 Ltd plans will be. By supporting HS2 in 2010, CPRE central office missed the opportunity to challenge the plans on environmental grounds against the wishes of many of their members, and allowed the Government to claim that it was green.
If CPRE national office joined with other groups, including some of their branches to challenge the plans since they were announced in 2010 the government might have been forced to come up with better proposals.
Being an organisation supported by intelligent and reasonable people,not given to extreme or over exaggerated responses to any perceived challenge to the countryside, then their stance can be well understood.
They do not fool themselves into thinking that there can be no change; but instead of trying vainly to prevent ANY development…”We don’t want it here-we don’t want it ANYWHERE” as one protester put it so succinctly, but wish to “make it better”.
They recognise that a railway line,not even a fast one could ever “destroy the Chilterns “especially as much of it would be deep underground, and even less so if the government could be persuaded to extend the tunnelled sections.