This afternoon, the High Speed Rail (London – West Midlands) Bill will be having its Bill Committee stage. This is the line by line examination of the Bill itself, as opposed to the Petitioning stage.
It will be taking place in the Moses Room, and can be watched online here.
The session is scheduled to start at 3.30pm.
Stop HS2 will be watching, and will let you know on Twitter if anything of note happens (we’ll also be tweeting as @Penny_Gaines and @JoeRukin).
Grayling is not interested in listening,they have 15% public support and that is good enough for them. If you look at recent Oral Answers, as usual, Grayling does not tell the truth, e.g. he told one MP that support for HS2 was very strong in the North (in fact amongst the highest opposition, but no point in mentioning that!) also he told another MP that the high cost – and he still won’t give an accurate answer on overall cost, possibly it’s too embarrassing – was due to the number of tunnels and extra cuttings. It’s risible, and a poor reflection on democracy, rather like the recent House of Lords Select Committee, which was rushed through, and petitioners were largely treated as an inconvenience again being interrupted and told to hurry up, or sometimes that their Lordships had heard enough! One assumes that they were paid for their inconvenience.
Meanwhile what’s happening with the Aarhus Report that could be very embarrassing to HS2 Ltd? Go and ask your MPs now.
Just when are MPs going to ask questions about Grayling’s 300,000 passengers and services to be cut on current lines
Looking through the strong arguments against HS2 both to Birmingham and Manchester etc, I feel that not enough weight has been placed on the environmental impact during construction and operation. We are facing ever increasing evidence of climate change due to CO2 emissions, and have a government allegedly committed to reducing them. Yet HS2 will consume many millions of tons of concrete and steel which produce large quantities of CO2 in manufacture. Cement, I am told, creates 1/3te of CO2 per Te of product. Material transport, tunnelling, embanking and all other construction activities consume large quantities of diesel fuel. All of this is going to continue to pollute the environment for ca 20 years? So where is the Gov’t environmental policy in all this? Then of course in operation a high speed train uses a great deal more energy as has been pointed out. All of this for a few rich business people whilst we have the commuter mess around big cities not addressed!
If you take your argument to its logical conclusion, you appear to be advocating a policy of not building anything, anywhere simply because it implies some degree of environmental impact – a large majority would find that position untenable?
Why is there no mention in the national media of money for hs2 being diverted to NHS/social care
Because the vast majority of funding allocated to HS2 is in the future, not in the here and now – the shortfall in funding for health and social care is right now so the two issues are, quite rightly, treated as entirely separate matters?
2 billion has already been spent and as it’s all borrowed money phasing is pretty irrelevant
Fingers crossed hoping people willeida see sense on the cost and disruption. No way can this project be justified
Adonis advises Grand Committee too little demand for direct services to Europe. His explanations undermine the HS2 requirements and the competition with aircraft also admitted to not be possible. Shame so many politicians including those entering the House of Lords take everyone for fools. Passing the responsibility to others without funding.
What poor reasoning for £100Billion.