See justice re HS2

WTF?

The whole project is far too expensive, will ruin or eliminate villages and ancient woods along its route and is not wanted by anyone except those who will profit from it.

We have a quite fast rail line between London and Birmingham. Why do we need another even faster one?

We need this money for far better purposes these days especially if we soon end up with the second recession in recent history.

Just how much positive change could £32 BILLION (£32,000,000,000) bring to the UK? Personally I think this money could be much better spent.

Conservative MP Andrea Leadsom made the claim adding that HS2 was “out of date before it is even completed”.

Liberal Democrat Dr Julian Huppert said the project was “a cold, hard necessity which we cannot afford to ignore”.

The line would first connect London to Birmingham, then to Manchester and Leeds and include stops in the East Midlands and South Yorkshire.

Ms Leadsom, whose South Northamptonshire constituency would be affected by the line, said she was against plans for a scheme that she thought was “unjustifiable and eye-wateringly expensive”.

“If this route was going from Truro to Paddington or from Leeds to Edinburgh, I would still be here today defending the taxpayer,” she added.

Coventry North-West MP Geoffrey Robinson (Labour) was also opposed to plans and said: “It’s the largest capital project this country will ever have engaged in and it is money, frankly, that could better be spent elsewhere.”

Transport Minister Theresa Villiers backed HS2 to defuse the “passenger capacity time bomb” on the West Coast Main Line and denied the scheme was only about cutting the London to Birmingham journey time to 49 minutes.

“It’s about delivering the inter-city transport links that are absolutely crucial for the future success of our economy.”

Labour’s shadow rail minister John Woodcock argued HS2 was “a vital lifeline of economic growth”.

“We will be failing future generations if we pass up the opportunity to employ the most advanced technology available,” said the Barrow MP.

A petition against the scheme has been delivered to Downing Street with 108,000 signatures.

Stop HS2 campaigners assembled at Old Palace Yard, opposite the House of Commons, to protest against the plans (see photo).

The line would also run through rural parts of Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire, Warwickshire and Staffordshire.

HS2 (the proposed new high speed rail link in England) will destroy 21 ancient woods along the route and cause irreversible damage to 52 more of these rare habitats.

High Speed 2 – proposed route

The Woodland Trust’s map identifies the 21 woods directly under threat from HS2. Get more details about this on the main page.

Please click ‘take action’ on the top right corner to register a general concern about the impact of HS2 on woods and trees.

If you live near a wood that may be lost to High Speed 2 you can comment specifically on this wood. Hover over a ‘tree’ on the map to identify your wood. Then click through to add your voice.