HS2 Ltd have admitted that they ignored 413 of the responses to their public consultation last summer, because 407 were not forwarded to the company doing the work, with others being counted as duplicates when they were not. As shown in Box 21 of the analysis of the responses, it is no real surprise that only one of the 413 submissions made comments supportive of Government, and that was talking about potential mitigation of the route, not the proposal itself. Individuals missed from the analysis of responses include the MP for the constituency effected by the most miles of HS2, Kenilworth & Southam MP Jeremy Wright, and Campaign Coordinator for Stop HS2 Joe Rukin.
The list of organisations which were ignored in the consultation analysis includes seven environmental organisations, one of which is The Wildlife Trusts, who like HS2 Action Alliance, Cherwell District Council and Heathrow Hub who were also missed, are currently involved in Judicial Reviews against HS2. The 150 page response from HS2AA is the second document the DfT have ‘lost’ from that organisation as their response to the previous consultation on compensation was also ‘mislaid’. Three action groups against HS2 from; Offchurch, The Chiltern Ridges and Wendover were also overlooked, and also missing from the main analysis were The Green Party, The Freshfield Foundation and the New Economics Foundation which have all been highly critical of HS2.
Stop HS2 Campaign Coordinator Joe Rukin said;
“As part of my response to the HS2 consultation, I said that I had little faith in the process, but now it seems that even having a little faith was too much. After the Chilterns Conservation Board actually got a rebuttal to their response while the consultation was still ongoing, we were told that the DfT had identified people and organisations whose responses they wanted to see fast tracked. Now we know they were fact tracked to the recycling bin.”
“We always knew that the consultation would be a farce, especially after Chief Engineer Andrew McNaughton said; ‘The most important thing right now is that we are seen to have had a consultation.’. All they wanted to do was jump through a hoop and tick a box, whilst ignoring the public, but now we know they couldn’t even do that properly. This is just symptomatic of the way HS2 Ltd and the DfT haven’t been able to do one single thing properly now for over two years. Justine Greening said when she was an opposition MP that she found the way the previous Government dealt with the Heathrow Consultation was ‘deeply, deeply concerning’, well the concern about this consultation, like the entire case for HS2 is now deeper than the Titanic. If they are not going to cancel the project, there is only one way to fill the democratic deficit left by the HS2 Consultation, to hold a full and proper public inquiry.”
Hilary Wharf, Director of HS2AA, said;
“The Government’s Consultation was a sham. We already know that they had concealed crucial evidence and now we see that they ‘lost’ responses they didn’t like. To lose our first consultation response back in 2010 was unfortunate but to lose it again smacks at carelessness. As a leading opposition organisation this is quite shocking. We gave extensive evidence in our 150 page report which covered material that is still excluded from the Consultation summary.”
“We have also been talking to our lawyers, and it is hard to see how the HS2 consultation and the decision to proceed, can conceivably meet the standards set for a public consultation. These latest revelations on top of everything else, can only strengthen our case against Government. They should simply admit that the decision to proceed was wrong, rather than wait to be forced there by the courts”
It is laudable that STOPHS2 allows the Riches of this world to mock the thousands who went to a lot of effort to work out just how bad an idea is HS2, probably far more than any MP made in his/her decision, doubtless concluding: “Of course it’s a good idea, I might not be an MP then but, as a Lord (provided I kowtow), free fast journey times to my country residence will be very welcome”.
Rich is right: whether or not you give them your vote, you give them “power” – power to ignore any and every logical objection.
“All they wanted to do was jump through a hoop and tick a box, whilst ignoring the public”
No they’re just ignoring you, who hasn’t been elected to any sort of power. And all the other main political parties who support HS2 are ignoring you as well. Never mind.
So that’s the nub of your argument is it? Because someone is “in power” they can ask for your opinion and then say its not worth the candle? You have overlooked the fact that they are “in power” because people like us voted for them. And before you leap into print to say hs2 was in all the manifestos, it wasn’t. High speed rail was, but the definition of high speed includes what speeds we have now, not upwards of 200 mph.
[i]And before you leap into print to say hs2 was in all the manifestos, it wasn’t. High speed rail was, but the definition of high speed includes what speeds we have now, not upwards of 200 mph.[/i]
So you read the manifestos and thought,”oh they want to build a high speed rail line. That’ll be 125mph then, just like it was in the 1970s”.
Never mind.
Not against high speed rail, nor am I the dinosaur you imagine me to be. Just, like most people I talk to, can’t see the point of building an exorbitantly priced, useless, new rail line when there are simpler and more appropriate ways to freeing up the network. Seems like HMG see there is some sense in this line of thought given they have just announced the funds to do the very same. Built on a sound business case, of course …
Of course it is purely coincidental this came out while parliament is in recess
I hope our mp’s are going to raise it when they reconvene and that in the meantime the national media pick it up as yet another example of gross incompetence
According to the parliament website the house rose on 25th July for the summer recess. Justine Greening’s statement about the missing or mislaid consultation responses was made on the 17th. The supplementary report was published on the 20th.
The House of Commons and the House of Lords have different recess dates. House of Commons recess started on 17th July, http://www.parliament.uk/about/faqs/house-of-commons-faqs/business-faq-page/recess-dates/, the House of Lords recess starts on the 25th (but they go back a month later than the Commons).