HS2 will devastate our environment

1. peter ok spread the building cost over the next few years better still give the people up north the choice between hs2 or 32 bill invested in there area

2. Yet again try to comment

   Peter I am glad yours are local forms are conducted in a civil manner but mine are NOT. The so called antis try disrupting at every turn, many just shout and use foul language. Now I ask you is that a civil manner? I have even had eggs thrown at my car after a local meeting due to my Pro HS2 view, again is that a civil manner?

   Peter next time you try to say someone please think before you put your big feet in your mouth.

   • I think that your last sentence proves my point “morris”, don’t you.

3. Uk jobs ? When we are getting trains from Japan rails from India electrics form Germany l
   Labor from Poland and romina to build it when we have spent 32billion of tax payers money on hs2 I think the traffic will be one way to the streets made of gold then the people in the south will be told we need more land to build.more houses in the countryside surely the best way to spend 32bil is to spend it up north on jobs now for the people there who need jobs now and spend on factory sites in the north to bring people from London to ease the Congestion in the Capitol or is it the fact there’s a lot of money to be made by the people running our country from company’s they own building hs2?

   • surely the best way to spend 32bil is to spend it up north on jobs now for the people there who need jobs now

     I’m sure you are aware that there is no £32bn bonanza right now as you put it?

     @J.davis
     A very small percentage of the total headline budget for the construction of HS2 is allocated to the present Parliamentary period – the lion’s share is off in the distance, literally years down the line.

     You’ve also conveniently forgotten to mention the £37bn programme of works announced by Network Rail for the 2014-19 control period – see this URL
     http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/policy-legislation/single-view/view/network-rail-publishes-2014-19-strategic-business-plan.html

     So in fact, funding for the existing railways network proceeds apace, with record sums ploughed into updgrading the existing network and making ready for HS2, which is only one part in an overall long term strategy to rejuvenate the UK rail network.

4. elaine i know what yon mean its just a nightmare but when we are fighting over 500 mps across the three partys what chance do we have apart from geting the best deal we can i just hope that all the people on the next faze realise they have untill the end of the month to vote for a fair deal on the compension for them to have a say i do not think they realise they will not get another chance after that date

5. While we await the “big one” promised for today, Sunday, it gives the chance to look at the plight of Cubbington ancient woodland, highlighted on the video.

   Examination of the published HS2 line of intended route shows clearly that to divert the railway north; such as is proposed e.g. near Twyford, Bucks., would destroy even more of the wood, while moving it south would bring it closer to Cubbington village.

   However, if we examine the vertical alignment and compare it wtth the land surface level, a possible ‘solution’ appears.

   To minimise the depth of the cutting, the line is shown to rise on either side of the higher ground, with a “hump”in the middle with an elevation of 79m, in the area of the wood.

   * Instead of a 10-20m./ 30-65ft. deep cutting, “90 m.”/ nearly 300ft wide,not to mention the extra mess during construction, the lines could be built in tunnel, more or less level and maintaining a height of just 70/71m.( which is the elevation of the tracks at either end of the cutting)

   Tunnels cost more, but apart from a slight saving in operating power, the greater depth below the surface would mean that tunnels could be safely be driven under the hill with the wood largely undisturbed, the land take reduced and above all , the amount of spoil that would need to be moved and the consequent cost would be but a fraction of what it would be from the huge cutting planned.

   Furthermore, a tunnel might avoid the need to replace at least one roadbridge and preserve a number of footpaths as well as reducing the noise level experienced by the village.

   Has anybody attempted to sell this alternative to HS2, given that the Government seem determined to press on?

   • John, the short answer to your question is ‘Yes’.

   • Thanks John. Like most good ideas this has already been thought of. Please take a look at my 29 Feb 2012 blog “Thinking three-dimensionally” (at http://hs2andtheenvironment.wordpress.com/2012/02/29/thinking-three-dimensionally). In May 2012 a detailed submission document, which may be viewed at http://www.hs2-cubbington.net/download/120621.pdf, was presented to HS2 Ltd via the Offchurch and Cubbington Community Forum. Eight months later we are still waiting for HS2 Ltd to respond to this document.
     As well as the advantages that you cite, the tunnel also lowers the track height across the Leam Valley, which should reduce the impact.

     • I am now getting confused by people on here, one minute you are saying the line is costing too much and then you’re asking for extra tunnels. Now I know why your campaign is losing ground to the pro-camp. People on here need to starting thing of a plan B, as like it or not hs2 is going to get built. Your plan B must be to start talking to hs2 ltd in a civil manner and stop stamping your feet.

       • We are saying its costing at least 33 billion too much

       • “BURY IT!”

         Wendover was and is concerned with how HS2 will affect the town- so I was interested to see their recent poster urging the authorities to “bury” the whole HS2 project!
         …but then it went on to say that if the government insisted on going ahead, then the line should be built in deep tunnels, to minimise the environmental impact.

       • No confusion Morris. The cost to the Nation of hs2 is far too great, and the new line per se is unnecessary. However, plan B as you put it, is to request mitigation measures appropriate to the need if the line goes ahead.

         I can only tell you that at our mitigation local forum we do discuss things in a “civil manner”, like the reasonable, rational, beings that we are.

         We do not need a lecture on civility from someone who acts towards us in what I would term a rather rude manner. Tis you dear blogger who is stamping his feet.

         • Very well said “lelli0”. As someone who, like you, has been working through my local forum to try and limit the impacts of HS2 on my local community, I can confirm that our forum also discusses things in a “civil manner”; the problem is that we are not getting any answers to our questions and suggestions.
           I fully support your very effective put down of a very rude individual, who obviously has little knowledge of what is actually going on.

6. Wish the nightmare would go away.

   • Indeed!The only hope is that the politicians wake up,and stop day-dreaming.

Comments are closed.