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Chiltern Society HS2 newsletter
January 2011
The major event in this newsletter is the announcement of the Route for Consultation.
Consultation Process
The Consultation is scheduled to start sometime in February. We understand that the Consultation will cover both National Rail Strategy and the HS2 Route for Consultation to Birmingham. The routes to Manchester and Leeds will be subject to a Consultation sometime in 2012. There will be a number of road shows presented by HS2, which will be open to everyone. These will start four weeks after the Consultation is announced, and will be held all over the Country. We will let you know as and when these dates are available.
The Consultation will last approximately 5 months, and will consist of written submissions by both organisations and individuals. We encourage you to take part and will supply data to enable you to make your own submissions.
Route for Consultation
There were no surprises here in that Route 3 ’the Preferred Route‘ through Amersham, Great Missenden and Wendover is the Route for Consultation. There have been a number of minor alterations, which are highlighted below.
The announcement by Philip Hammond was made on 20 December 2010 and the paper Proposed high speed rail strategy for consultation was added to the DfT website on 20 December 2010 (following link above will open an additional window).
This comprises a number of papers. Shown below is a brief summary of each paper with a link to enable you to see the detail if desired. I have summarized the items which I believe will be of interest to the majority.
Route Mitigation - 4 November 2010
(opens an additional window)
Covers:
Old Amersham to Little Missenden
South Heath to Wendover Green Tunnels
Wendover Tunnel
Edgcote Park
Old Amersham to Wendover. Over this stretch the cuttings have been deepened by between 5m and 10m, ’Green Bridges‘ have been added near Shardeloes (150m) and between the Chesham Road and Frith Hill (900m), with the tunnel near Hyde Heath being lengthened by 100m. Costs are estimated to increase by £55m
The deepening of the cuttings has the advantage that the towers carrying the power for the train will be hidden, and that with ’soft‘ cuttings there should be a reduction in noise.
Having said that, putting this line through an AONB is unacceptable.
The Wendover tunnel refers to a proposed Cut and Cover Tunnel at Ellesborough Road. HS2 looked at a proposal to bore a twin tunnel here, but have rejected the idea as it would cost approx £370m, although it give better mitigation.
In addition we have reviewed the updated maps and compared them with the originals, with a a brief explanation of the major changes(in this website).
Mitigation and changes - 19 Nov 2010 (links to a 200KB PDF in DfT's website)
Hartwell House
Delta Junction
Northolt Corridor
Vent Shafts – Link Old Common to HS1
Euston – rail lines
Future Heathrow Link
There is a proposal to move the track away from Hartwell House to take less of the Grade II listed park. This will take some land from the golf course and move the trains slightly closer to Aylesbury and its housing, There is a proposal to provide some further sound insulation.
The proposals for the Northolt Corridor may be of interest as there is the possibility to adversely affect the Chiltern Line during construction.
The note about Vent Shafts for a link to HS1 shows that the link is intended to a be single track link. (Editor‘s comment – Hardly a proper link to Europe!)
Confirming the Line of Route - 3 Dec 2010 (links to a 100KB PDF in DfT's website)
Recommendations for:
Northolt Junction
Edgcote
Delta Junction to the West Coast Main Line
Provision for a future link to Heathrow
HS1 Link and International Stations
Rolling Stock Maintenance Depot
Letter Writing Campaign
In the December newsletter we reported on the letter-writing campaign suggested by our President, Michael Rush. We encourage you to join this. (See December Newsletter on this website for details)
Exceptional Hardship Scheme
Revised application form and Frequently Asked Questions for this were announced on 5 January 2011 and can be found here (opens an additional window))
Rallies and Meetings
A number of rallies were organised in December.
20th December – rally at Great Missenden Memorial Hall. Despite the snow a large number of people turned out, with coverage from the BBC and Channel 4. Actor Sir Geoffrey Palmer was interviewed.
16 January 2011 – Wendover. Countryfile reported on the reaction in Wendover to the consultation on 21st December 2010. The show included a demonstration of the noise from HS2.
Forthcoming Rallies and Meetings
5th February – HS2 Information Day at Prestwood Village Hall – 13.00 to 16.30
Organised by GMStopHS2 to help understand the current proposals and how you can help. The Chiltern Society will be there.
19th February 2011 – Stop HS2 Convention. At Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire. Details on http://stophs2.org/convention
Councils against HS2
Bucks County Council, the District Councils in Bucks and Hillingdon Council have announced the creation of a Project Board to fight HS2.
DfT Plan 2011 – 2015
The Department for Transport has published the above plan (links to a 150KB PDF in DfT's website). This makes an interesting read if you look at the world through rose coloured spectacles. The main objective is to deliver High Speed Rail.
There is also a section on ’Secure our Railways for the Future‘ Most of this relates to London with Crossrail and London Underground.
Transport Select Committee
The Committee has started a review of EU Transport Policy (opens an additional window). Oral evidence will be heard on Tuesday 1 February 2011. With the desire to connect HS2 to HS1, there may be some interesting revelations.
Campaign Action Team
The team has been strengthened by the addition of some members. It now comprises
John Gladwin – Team Leader
Geoff Wiggett – Volunteer and Events Coordinator
Deanne Dukhan – Marketing
Ian Berrido - PR
Jim Rodda – sponsored walks
Keith Hoffmeister – Photography
Please feel free to contact any of us through the Society.
Volunteers
I would like to thank all of you who have helped with putting up posters and delivering leaflets. Please for more supplies.
We want to leaflet Amersham, Chesham and Chalfont St Peter in the next month. Please if you can help.
If you would like to help with walks, please
We are always looking for fundraising ideas and welcome your suggestions…
If there are other areas you would like us to cover please contact .
John Gladwin
HS2 Campaign Action Team
