Dft publishes HS2 consultation results

1. The Dialogue by Design report clearly shows that the majority of responses disagreed with each of the 7 loaded questions / statements specially formulated by HS2 to appear positive in all respects. In a similar vein, Transport Secretary Justine Greening comments that there was “equal” intensity of argument in the two camps, simply ignoring the above reality.

2. So now we know that there were 54,909 responses to the Consultation. The document on the DFT website tells us that and is basically a very wordy justification of the government’s decision, no doubt with the aim of trying to cover off all angles from a potential legal attack. I can see why they needed an extra month to put this together, some poor civil servants will have been working all over Christmas.

   I can’t see anything in the document ( so far ) though that summarises what the respondents said, I can see what the government concludes on each question but not on what the respondents actually said. Can anyone point this out to me ? I know that many responses will have been quite involved but 6 of the 7 questions are essentially Yes / No answers.

   Is it usually for a government to be so secretive about the outcome of a Consultation ?

   • We need to ask for the full report originally submitted by Dialogue by Design to the Government. This will be the one that summarises all of the responses to each question and should have tables showing percentages etc; and this is the one on which the research consultant’s (D by D) reputation is staked. If this is not comprehensive and accurate, then D for D risks the charge that they do not undertake ethical work and their reputation for other business will be at stake.
     What we have access to at the moment is only the summary, which (by the looks of the top page) is signed off by HS2 Ltd and by Dept for Transport as well as by D by D. In that case this summary will almost certainly have been put under some pressure about the way it phrases things, what it includes or excludes etc.
     Yes, in my years of experience, it is quite normal for clients (Government or not) to lean on the researchers to moderate particular bits or keep silent on them etc etc. No client at this level will ask the research consultants to lie – but will often seek to influence the report. We need to remember that truth is WHOLE truth as well as nothing but truth …

   • http://www.dialoguebydesign.net produced the report on the consultation for DfT – should be on the website. Also here is a summary.

     Bluespace Thinking Ltd – Summary of the HS2 Consultation results. 10 th January 2012
     The Government asked 7 questions in the HS2 consultation the responses in support of the HS2
     proposals versus those that disagree were as follows :-
     Providing the same information in graphical form highlights the results.
     It appears that 12,607 (24%) of the public votes were linked to the National ‘Yes to HS2’ campaign,
     email/letters and postcards all had the same base text with a variety of additional statements in
     favour of HS2. Further information on the campaign can be found at www.campaignforhsr.com
     reference to the launch of the campaign can be found at:-
     http://www.ferryonline.co.uk/news/20110425hs2campaignseekingcontributionsfromsupporters.html
     Various similar base text was also found in 2302 responses (4%) of the public responses suggesting
     linkage to one of 48 organisation opposing HS2 located along the route more details of these
     organisations can be found at http://www.hs2aa.org and http://www.stophs2.org/contacts.
     The total public vote represented 0.11 % of the 42 million UK voting population.
     429 responses were received from the 4.5 million businesses in the UK (0.01 %). The 429
     responses also included some non UK companies..
     Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7
     0
     5,000
     10,000
     15,000
     20,000
     25,000
     30,000
     35,000
     Agree Disagree
     Summary of HS2 Consultation Results Agree Disagree
     Q1 21,630 23,462
     Q2 16,365 31,789
     Q3 2,770 26,197
     Q4 3,136 28,455
     Q5 2,784 28,163
     Q6 772 14,170
     Q7 3,197 16,027
     Do you agree that there is a strong case for enhancing the capacity and performance of
     Britain’s inter-city rail network to support economic growth over the coming decades?
     Do you agree that a national high speed rail network from London to Birmingham, Leeds
     and Manchester (the Y network) would provide the best value for money solution (best
     balance of costs and benefits) for enhancing rail capacity and performance?
     Do you agree with the Government’s proposals for the phased roll-out of a national high
     speed rail network, and for links to Heathrow Airport and the High Speed 1 line to the
     Channel Tunnel?
     Do you agree with the principles and specification used by HS2 Ltd to underpin its
     proposals for new high speed rail lines and the route selection process HS2 Ltd undertook?
     Do you agree that the Government’s proposed route including the approach proposed for
     mitigating its impacts is the best option for a new high speed rail line between London and
     the West Midlands?
     Do you wish to comment on the Appraisal of Sustainability of the Government’s proposed
     route between London and the West Midlands that has been published to inform this
     consultation?
     Do you agree with the options set out to assist those whose properties lose a significant
     amount of value as a result of any new high speed line?
     Note:- Q6 records the comments that suggested respondents were satisfied with the AoS
     vs. those who thought it inadequate .

   • Just downloaded the consultation report, 230pages of it so quite pricey at over £3 million per page, a quick scan reveals that most respondents disagreed with most of the proposals for HS2. Given the way the questions were phrased this is quite a feat and makes you wonder how on earth the government could interpret this as being broadly supportive. About 54000 of the 55000 responses were from the public within only 400 or so from business. If its such a fantastic boost for business how come so few bothered to respond?

3. HS2 will end up taking much longer to build than suggested.

   HS2 will cost a great deal more than currently projected, probably twice that claimed.

   The Service will not run trains at 200+ mph as claimed – this will be due to technical problems.

   The service will cost a fortune to use.

   The service will be controlled by the unions and thus be unreliable.

   The 30 minutes reduction in time to travel is just not worth the investment.

   Within a short time the service will degrade, be smelly, worn out looking and unpleasant to use.

4. So.. who doesn’t use the trains just because they’re ~30mins too slow?? serious amount of money wasted on a journey i certainly haven’t made within the last 4years and have no future intentions to either. However a journey across Birmingham is costing me more and more as the months go buy, to the point where its actually cheaper and quicker (when including getting to/from train station) to travel by motorbike!

5. they are going to build hs2 and it is going to happen, it needs to happen as times go on and is inevitable. yes it costs a lot of money but this will happen and it is a good cause.

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