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July news
23 July 2010
Mawhinney report weakens HS2's case to cross the Chilterns, says Chiltern Society
The cost and rationale of building a high speed rail route across the Chilterns is being brought more into question following Lord Mawhinney’s rail report, the Chiltern Society says today (Friday 23 July).
The Conservative peer, who had been commissioned to review transport links to Heathrow, concluded there was 'no compelling case’ for an immediate direct high speed link to the airport.
John Taylor, chairman of the Society said: “This undermines one of the 'absolute requirements' of the original terms of reference for the HS2 study. That requirement, to link HS2 to a 'Heathrow International Station', was a key factor in determining that the HS2 route would have to cross the Chilterns.
“It also constrained HS2 Ltd from thoroughly evaluating alternative routes that would have avoided the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).”
Lord Mawhinney also recommended that Transport Secretary Philip Hammond should urgently authorise further work so that he can decide ‘whether the original vision of a through train service from Scotland, (plus the North of England and the Midlands) to Paris and beyond should become a reality.’
Mr Taylor said: “The HS2 Ltd proposals for three alternative routes across the Chilterns do not provide such a through service capability and, the Chiltern Society believes, are unlikely to be able to do so in an economic and effective manner. Lord Mawhinney's report confirms the need for a thorough examination of all the options for high speed rail links between London and the north, including options to avoid the Chilterns AONB.”
Mr Taylor said the Society, the biggest conservation group in the area with over 6,500 members, agreed with Lord Mawhinney’s doubts about the very high cost of HS2, estimated at £30 billion.
He said: “We have serious doubts that the economic case for building the proposed HS2 route through the Chilterns is convincing, or that the assumptions for time saving benefits are robust.
“We really question the value of saving a few extra minutes travelling time when compared with the environmental destruction that a direct route across the Chilterns AONB would cause.
“We doubt if sufficient consideration has been taken of the future development of the internet and video conferencing, which could have a growing and significant impact on future travel. We believe HS2 Ltd has overestimated the benefit of business travellers being able to work on the train – something they already do on the existing network.”
The Chiltern Society, which is not against the concept of high speed rail in principle, is strongly opposed to any HS2 routes between Birmingham and London across the Chilterns. It is conducting its own analysis on the economic soundness of HS2 Ltd’s specific proposals.
