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Chiltern Society HS2 newsletter
October/November 2010
I apologise for the length of this newsletter, but late September and October has been a busy period with regard to HS2. There have been a number of meetings up and down the line attended by Philip Hammond, the Transport Secretary, as well as meetings involving HS2 and Department for Transport (DfT) staff (these meetings are summarised later in this newsletter).
The result is that there has been no change to the Preferred Route as it crosses the Chilterns. Minor changes have been made further north, with deeper cuttings and some minor horizontal line adjustments.
- The Timetable for HS2 has been clarified.
Announcement of Preferred Route for Consultation – Early December 2010
Consultation on Preferred Route (probably 5 Months) – Start March/April 2011
Final Decision on Route – December 2011
Introduction of Hybrid Bill – 2013
Construction Start – 2015
The most likely result is that the current ‘Preferred Route’ will be selected, but HS2 has refused to rule out either Route 2.5 or Route 4.
- Chiltern Society AGM speech by Christian Wolmar
There was record attendance at the Chiltern Society AGM to hear transport commentator Christian Wolmar speak about his views on the High Speed rail developments. Christian’s speech highlighted his 13 points of objection to HS2 – for details please see October News.
- Photographic presentation of the proposed route
Chiltern Society member Keith Hoffmeister has taken photographs of the countryside which will be damaged on the proposed high speed route. This has now been made into a video presentation with maps and can be viewed on the Chiltern Society photographic group’s site
- Chiltern Society members’ views – results of our survey
Over 530 members completed the survey of members’ views on HS2. The main results are:
91% are against HS2 crossing the Chilterns AONB
81% are against HS2 crossing the Chilterns
65% believe that mitigation measures will not be sufficient
73% are opposed to High Speed Rail development in the UK as it is too expensive, time savings are negligible, impact on the countryside and existing railways can be improved.
Full
details are in the next copy of Chiltern News.
- Evidence Based Papers
This month we posted on the website, What makes the Chilterns so special?, a paper by Alison Doggett, a Trustee of the Society who has co-authored the definitive book on the Chilterns. Read the paper here.
- Secretary of State Visits
Philip Hammond visited Amersham on September 22 meeting local action groups and Conservatives. Cheryl Gillan, MP for Chesham & Amersham and Steven Baker MP for Wycombe attended the meeting. Both MPs stated that they were adamantly opposed to the preferred route.
Mr Hammond’s stance was that the Preferred Route is the Preferred Route, and that objectors should concentrate on mitigation. He said that he and HS2 were prepared to listen to mitigation proposals, and that there was some flexibility to make horizontal and vertical adjustments. When asked ‘how do you mitigate an 8 mile trench across the top of the Chilterns?’ he had no answer.
In a question and answer session, he admitted that the valuation of business peoples’ time was rather soft (Editorial Note: this accounts for nearly £18bn of the £32bn benefits, which underpin the Business Case). He said that if the Business case was not strong there were other non-quantified benefits, which were in the National Interest, such as healing the North South divide. Further that determining the National Interest was part of Government’s responsibility.
In a discussion on the environment, High Speed Rail was interpreted as being low carbon. When pointed out that even HS2 admit it is at best carbon neutral, Mr Hammond reverted to the National Interest.
It became apparent that HS2 had not taken into account the footpaths, animal migrations paths etc that would be cut. An HS2 engineer admitted that they would need to reinstate the footpaths with bridges or underpasses. Costs not included in the Business Case.
There was a meeting a week later in Aylesbury hosted by David Lidington. The results were the same as from the Amersham meeting. i.e. No change to the Route, concentrate on mitigation.
- Meetings with HS2
Bucks County Council hosted a meeting in Aylesbury with Sir Brian Briscoe, chairman of HS2. The panel included the Speaker, John Bercow MP for Buckingham. Dominic Grieve MP for Beaconsfield, some speakers from Kent, who had been involved in fighting HS1, Steve Rodrick, Chief Officer of the Chiltern Conservation Board, Philip Graham from the DfT.
Mr Grieve said he believed the Business Case is very weak. He added rational argument and evidence based data is the only way to provide persuasive evidence that the proposal is flawed. He listens to his constituents, and will ensure government policy is properly scrutinised.
Mr Bercow said he strongly opposed the route, although Mr Hammond had assured him that there was a good business case. He stated that personal attacks were counter-productive, and endorsed Mr Grieve’s comments on factual data.
Sir Brian Briscoe mentioned at least 5 times that no final decision has been made on the route. He confirmed that Mr Hammond had asked for a link to HS1.
Philip Graham from the DfT confirmed Mr Hammond had not ruled out further discussion of the business case, and engagement on mitigation to the Preferred Route was not prejudicial to arguments against that route.
Steve Roderick covered the Environmental damage to the AONB. He added Alison Munro (Chief Executive of HS2) had refused to release either Route 2.5 or Route 4.
Peter Raine and George Lambrick, both from Kent gave feedback on Kent’s experience with HS1, confirming the need to negotiate.
Mark Bailey of Bucks County Council gave a presentation on BLISS, an impressive computer system mapping the whole of Bucks in detail. Sir Brian Briscoe looked very uncomfortable as he realised that BCC had better data about the route.
John Bercow summed up
- Business Case – Rubbish
- Low Carbon Case - Rubbish
- Sound of Moving Goalposts to the National Interest
During the Month HS2 held Technical Seminars on
- Forecasting and Economic Appraisal
- Infrastructure & Technical Specifications
- Noise
The presentations from these are available at www.hs2.org.uk/publications/
I understand that these were generally technical in nature and provided little opportunity to discuss alternatives.
- Lobby Day – Oct 25 – Portcullis House
Organised by Angela Leadsom MP, with a number of speakers. Teresa Villiers – Minister of State for Transport attended the first 40 minutes, Philip Hammond the last 40 minutes.
Chris Stokes, a railwayman, spoke first. He originally thought that HS2 was a good thing. Examination of the case has changed his mind. He gave a clear explanation of his reasons.
Prof. Mike Geddes spoke about economic regeneration. His research shows that where there is a direct link, the economic benefits flow to the larger partner. Thus London will take the Lion’s share of the benefits. The other partner will take economic benefits from neighbouring cities not connected to HS2. Also economic regeneration is encouraged by improved local communication.
Mike Sullivan of Campaign to Protect Rural England spoke about how HS2 was not using the lessons learnt in the building of HS1, notably the failure to follow motorways to merge the noise envelopes created by the motorway and HSR. He suggested that the wrong route had been chosen, and that an M1 alignment would be quicker to build, reach more of the population and reach the Northern Cities in need of regeneration earlier.
During question time, Mr Hammond was adamant that he was not considering other routes. In particular the engineering for the M40 and M1 routes was too costly. He laughed when a questioner commented ‘HS2’s MI route was rather like Ryanair’s geography’. He listened and took a paper on an alternative M1 route.
- Comprehensive Spending Review
The Government announced that £700m was being made available in the next 4 years to develop the HS2 proposal.
The Government announced that it has developed a ‘National Infrastructure Plan’. The intention is that Business and Government will spend £200bn on infrastructure in the next 5 years. This covers:
- Energy
- Transport (including High Speed Rail)
- Digital Communications
- Flood Management, water and waste
- Intellectual Capital
The details can be accessed here (NOTE: This links you to a PDF).
In my opinion this is more a statement of hope and intent than a plan.
Comments are invited
The Infrastructure Plan also sets up the Public Expenditure Committee of the Cabinet, chaired by George Osborne. This committee has agreed capital allocations for the public sector for the next 4 years.
The Treasury has set up Infrastructure UK to advise the Public Expenditure Committee. More information on its role is available at www.hm-treasury.gov.uk
I apologise for the delay in delivering this newsletter to you, but our previous editor has had to withdraw through personal issues.
If there are other areas you would like us to cover please
John Gladwin
HS2 Campaign Action Team
