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April news
16 April 2010
Councils lobbied before vital meetings
Chiltern Society chairman John Taylor has written to the leaders of Buckinghamshire County Council and Aylesbury Vale District Council setting out the Society’s stance before the councillors debate their own position on HS2. Below is a transcript of the county letter, sent to Cllr David Shakespear, leader of Bucks CC.
Dear Cllr. Shakespeare
Your council produced a leaflet dated 31 March outlining the Government’s proposals and we understand that the full council is considering these issues at a meeting to be held on 22 April. We have noted the motion being proposed by Mrs Letheren for this meeting.
As you have explained, the proposals are to build a new high speed rail line between London and Birmingham with a preferred route running North/South through the middle of both Buckinghamshire and the Chilterns. The two alternative routes also cross the Chilterns.
We note your letter of December 8th 2009 to Lord Adonis wherein you support the WCML route with a station stop at Milton Keynes. We note your disappointment on 11 March that the Government has chosen not to take on board your suggestions and we also note that the report prepared by the HS2 Ltd Company states ‘We found that even with wider economic benefits, including any from regeneration, an intermediate station would be detrimental to the HS2 business case unless a loss of other services on the line could be avoided. This would not be achievable.’
The charitable objectives of our Society require us to, amongst other activities:
• encourage high standards of town and country planning and design in the Chilterns;
• encourage people of all ages to enjoy and care for the natural environment and beauty of the Chilterns; and
• encourage conservation and improvement of the amenities, areas of tranquillity and historic features in the Chilterns.
The Society’s conclusion is that the HS2 proposal is wholly incompatible with our charitable objectives. It creates no benefits whatsoever to Buckinghamshire or the Chilterns generally. On the contrary, it would bring a significant number of mainly environmental disadvantages, particularly to the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Moreover, we are not persuaded by the economic arguments for the national interest case and will challenge the assumptions on which the proposal is based.
The preferred route, in particular, would cause significant harm to cherished ancient landscapes along the Misbourne Valley, in the Wendover area and to the Chilterns escarpment. The proposed viaduct at Wendover would be highly visually and aurally intrusive in such a sensitive area, located as it is between Coombe Hill and Wendover Woods, two of the highest peaks on the escarpment which arguably offer the most inspirational views in Southern England over some 30 or 40 miles of countryside. We believe that current residents hold this land in trust for future generations and they will not forgive us for failing to safeguard the national asset that is represented by this outstanding landscape.
We therefore encourage you and your colleagues to join with us and oppose, not just this proposal, but also any other route that crosses the Chilterns. We do not believe there is any obligation on either of us in opposing this proposal to suggest any alternative routes. We do believe that the Chilterns are a national asset to be enjoyed by everyone and not abused by major national infrastructure projects that permanently harm the Chilterns and Buckinghamshire and bring no lasting benefit to the wider local area.
We trust that you will have an interesting debate and look forward to hearing the views of your council.
Yours sincerely,
John Taylor
6 April 2010
HS2 Action Group being formed
Following an offer made last week by the Society’s president, Michael Rush, at a public meeting organised by Bucks County Councillor Mike Colston and held in Great Missenden, the Chiltern Society is putting together a comprehensive action group to challenge the Government’s HS2 proposals.
Discussions are under way with other organisations and individuals, and we will be making a more detailed announcement in the coming days.
We will also soon be publishing arrangements to harness the work of volunteers. Many thousands of people have already joined a Facebook group and localised action groups ready to offer whatever support they can.
In addition, we will be outlining how you can express your concerns during the election period.
In the meantime, if you have a particular expertise which would be helpful to us in the long and detailed battle that lies ahead – and you are willing to volunteer that expertise – we would be grateful if you could
