Thanks to a fantastic response from you, 1925 petitions against the HS2 Hybrid Bill were deposited in Parliament last month. This is more than were deposited for Crossrail and HS1 combined, which suggests it will take a couple of years for the HS2 bill to get through the House of Commons Committee stage, with of course the House of Lords still to come.This is almost certainly an under-estimate, because HS2 Ltd have still to reveal ‘additional provisions’, which are further changes to the plans. When the additional provisions are announced, people will have a chance to submit petitions on these issues too. The vast majority of these additional provisions will be needed because HS2 Ltd know they have got loads of things wrong in their plans and have to change them. The provisions will also cover the new plans for a complete rebuild of Euston station.Petitions will be heard on a geographical basis, starting in Birmingham and then going to the top of the Phase 1 route at Handsacre in Staffordshire and working their way down to London. Although the Committee will go on site visits, they will only hear petitions in London.
LOCUS STANDI. WE NEED YOUR HELP!
Out of the 1925 petitions, HS2 Ltd have decided to challenge the ‘locus standi’, or the right to be heard by MPs, of 24 of them. They are not challenging any local action group – but HS2 Ltd have decided to challenge Stop HS2’s right to be heard. This is even though we have appeared before the committee who have already agreed to some of our suggestions.
In challenging our locus standi, HS2 Ltd have claimed that Stop HS2 don’t represent anyone effected by HS2! To prove HS2 Ltd wrong, we’d like your help. We are allowed to submit written evidence and even call witnesses for a meeting in London on 9th July which will decide whether we can petition.
To help our case, we need you to make it clear that you think we do represent you. Details of what we need you to do – THIS WEEK – can be found here:
https://stophs2.org/news/11248-stop-hs2-fight-heard-hs2-committee
NEW MAPS.
HS2 Ltd has recently published new maps showing the land to be safeguarded on Phase 1 of the route. For more information, see https://stophs2.org/news/11216-safeguarding-maps
We have had a presence at political party conferences in September for four years now, but this year it is a bit different. With the General Election just ten months away, we have to have a bigger presence, making it clear to our supporters that we are here and that they should continue to speak up and making it clear to our detractors that we will make sure HS2 is a toxic issue within the election campaign.
HS3
You can tell there is an election coming up when politicians come up with ideas they think might be vote-winners, but without any plans to back them up. Well that happened this week with George Osborne saying there could be a high speed rail link between Leeds and Manchester. This was probably after someone pointed out to him that the journey using HS2 would be a 160 mile trip going south to Birmingham and then north again – not such a hot idea
The interesting thing was that Osborne is saying it could go down existing transport corridors, might involve upgrading existing track and would go at 140mph, all the things we were told couldn’t be done with HS2.
The announcement was labelled as cynical electioneering by Labour Lord Adonis, the man who announced HS2 less than two months before the 2010 General Election………
HS2 LTD BUDGET OVERRUNS AGAIN…
I now see the House of Lords are going to look at hs2 Great but will the government suppress there finding for yrs to come .I wonder what odds I could get that they will
I THOUGHT THE ARCHBISHOP OF LIVERPOOL’S COMMENTS WERE RATHER TRITE, HAPPY TO DESTROY COMMUNITIES, BUSINESSES, AONBS ETC JUST SO LIVERPOOL CAN HAVE BETTER LINKS WHEN SURELY THERE ARE LESS DAMAGING WAYS TO DO THIS. SOMEWHAT SELFISH.HE MENTIONED THE CUTS BUT TOTALLY FAILED TO REFER TO THE INFLATED SALARIES OF THE STAFF HS2 WANT TO EMPLOY OR THE HUGE COST AND TIME SPAN OF THIS IDIOTIC RAILWAY.ALSO SAID HE LOVES SHOPPING I THINK; HOW DEEPLY SPIRITUAL.NOW I KNOW WHY I GAVE THE CHURCH UP SOME YEARS AGO.
GOING OFF THE SUBJECT I HOPE THIS AWFUL CHILD ABUSE SCANDAL WILL MAKE PARLIAMENT/MPS MORE ACCOUNTABLE AND OPEN.IT SHOULD START WITH US BEING SHOWN THE AMBER/RED REPORT WHICH WE HAVE A RIGHT TO SEE .TEBBITT SAID PROTECTING THE ESTABLISHMENT WAS MORE IMPORTANT PROBABLY THAN BEING OPEN BUT THIS STRIKES ME AS A TERRIBLE INDICTMENT OF OUR GOVERNING SYSTEM WHICH AT ALL TIMES [UNLESS SECRECY IS NEEDED IN WAR ETC] SHOULD PUT ITS CHILDREN AND CITIZENS IN GENERAL FIRST. SOME HOPE.I HAVE LOST ALL FAITH IN IT AND TRUST NONE OF THEM NOW.WE SHOULD BE BANGING ON THEIR DOORS UNTIL WE GET SOME RESPECT AND ANSWER.
LET’S REMEMBER NONE OF THESE PEOPLE ARE ANY BETTER THAN ANY OF US AND THE PAST IS TESTAMENT TO THEIR FREQUENT STUPIDITY, WASTE AND INCOMPETENCE BUT DO THEY EVER CHANGE? LET’S SEE SOME HUMILITY AND THAT THEY ARE LISTENING TO PEOPLE.
The petitioning is being eroded by the arbitrary 29th April constraining document. What will the MPs with reservations do to address the severe limitations. What can the people achieve when the select committee is prevented from considering the deficits in Route 3. Mention this to your MP and see if he/she can explain why the UK should have a third rate railway for 50 billion pounds. You are all paying the price for a poor route serving no local county people please.
The link of what to do this week has got a superfluous space in the URL.
Use http://stophs2.org/news/11248-stop-hs2-fight-heard-hs2-committee