Here are some of the items on HS2 which have been published over the last fortnight:
Bucks Herald: Tories ‘poised’ to quit over HS2 Sunday 23 October 2011
A BUCKINGHAMSHIRE council leader has threatened to quit the party over HS2 – and believes others will follow suit if the controversial proposals are approved.
The leader of Chiltern District Council, which covers Great Missenden, Nick Rose says he will make a decision on whether to resign if the plans reach the stage where they are backed by Parliament – which could be in around 18 months’ time…
Bucks Free Press: Birmingham MP: HS2 won’t help our city Monday 24th October 2011
Roger Godsiff, the MP for Birmingham Hall Green, said the planned HS2 scheme would be “a disaster” and had “not been thought through” during a debate in the House of Commons….
“Not one business person has come to me and said, ‘Thirty minutes is going to make the difference between my company succeeding or not’. It is a fallacy to believe otherwise.
Planning Resource: What Price Tranquility? By timstansfeld, Monday, 24 October 2011,
“Impacts on tranquility and quiet areas would be considered in more detail as part of the Environmental Impact Assessment should the scheme be progressed further.”
And that’s it. Nothing else. Not a mention in the consultation document. The box has been ticked and we can leave it to the EIA.
Bucks Examiner: ‘I’ll make a rational decision on HS2’ says Greening Oct 24 2011
NEW government transport boss Justine Greening has given HS2 campaigners hope after she said she would make a “rational” decision on whether the project goes ahead.
The Journal: Think tank pours scorn on high speed rail plans The Journal, Oct 26 2011
A DAMNING report has accused ministers of backing a high speed rail line despite it having little or no impact on the North-South divide.
Researchers at the Adam Smith Institute have told the Government that High Speed 2 will clearly not make enough revenue to cover operational and construction costs and will bring very few tangible benefits, based on a look at the London to Brussels high speed line.
Bucks Herald: Huge turnout for rally against HS2 proposals Wednesday 26 October 2011 10:31
MORE than 1,000 people attended an anti-HS2 rally in Wendover on Saturday, in a special marquee set up on the high street.
Speeches were delivered by senior members of Stop HS2 and the Chilterns Conservation Board, and the crowds also watched a video message from Brussels sent by Aylesbury MP and Europe Minister David Lidington.
Daily Mail: The campaigners for High Speed 2 have resorted to ad hominem attacks. What does that tell you? Alex Singleton’s blog, 27th October
Oh dear. David Begg, the director of the Campaign for High Speed Rail, is annoyed that the Adam Smith Institute has published research saying that high speed rail is a waste of money. But rather than explaining where the research is wrong, Prof Begg just smears the institute.
Birmingham Post: Think tank warns that HS2 will be expensive failure 27th Oct
High speed rail will cost the nation £50 billion and add to the Treasury’s massive debts when interest payments are already sky high, an influential think tank was warned.
Knutsford Guardian: High-speed line controversy (From Knutsford Guardian) 28th Oct
FIONA Bruce has expressed her ‘vigorous opposition’ to a £32billion high-speed railway through Cheshire…
Coventry Telegraph: Minister urges Coventry to back HS2 rail line on visit to Stratford 28th Oct
A GOVERNMENT minister has signalled it’s full steam ahead for the HS2 rail line as he issued a plea to opponents to see how it will benefit Coventry and Warwickshire.
Lib Dem transport minister Norman Baker MP also spoke about a bid for a £23million Coventry to Nuneaton train service (NUCKLE) stopping at a new Ricoh station.
Liverpool Echo: Garston MP leads Labour rethink on high-speed rail plans 31st Oct
A MERSEYSIDE MP has engineered a Labour rethink on the proposed HS2 high-speed rail link with London.
Garston’s Maria Eagle was today endorsing an alternative to the current scheme, which cuts through rural Conservative constituencies.
Coventry Telegraph: Labour party opposes current route for HS2 31st Oct
The party’s new route would still link up with the original line east of Leamington Spa or pass south of Warwick before carrying on around the western edge of Coventry to a new station near the NEC.
BBC: BBC News – HS2 would link with Heathrow in proposed alternative 31st Oct
An alternative route to the proposed £32bn national high-speed rail link has been outlined by the shadow transport secretary Maria Eagle.
Buckinghamshire Advertiser: ‘Replace HS2 with superfast broadband’ say firms 1 Nov
SMALL firms in South Bucks have called for the HS2 plans to be scrapped in favour of superfast broadband at a meeting with the Speaker of the House of Commons.
Speaker and Buckingham MP John Bercow met with local members of the Federation of Small Businesses…
A recent survey of small businesses across Bucks highlighted that 87 per cent felt their company would not benefit from HS2 at all.
the new economics foundation: David Theiss – Time to elevate the HS2 debate 3rd November
As much as some would like the public to think so, the debate on HS2 is not simply between progress and stasis, northern jobless and landed NIMBYs or economy and environment.
Based on nef’s review of the Department for Transport’s consultation documents and the numerous other analyses by independent organisations, academics and members of the public, there are serious concerns about whether HS2 can achieve anything close to its stated aims. The public needs clarification. It’s not politics; it is basic financial sense.