On 25 Apr 2019 Buckinghamshire councillors voted unanimously to ask the Government to halt HS2 enabling works in Buckinghamshire until they have issued Notice to Proceed. The motion was put forward by county councillor Charlie Clare and seconded by councillor Angela Macpherson.
He [Cllr Clare] told the meeting, “Currently from the very south to the very north of the county there is disruption and damage being caused by HS2 under these Enabling Works […]
“Many of these works bring irreversible damage to our environment and will leave the county scarred for generations. HS2 plan to rip out our rural heritage, despite not having shown the community or the government what they plan to build in their place. Nor have they shown the Treasury how much it will cost,” he added.
Seconding the motion, Cllr Macpherson said: “We now hear that there is a six-month delay to the Notice to Proceed to release the next tranche of funding taking us to the end of the year. So surely it makes sense to, at the very least, postpone this local environmental destruction until that point.
Continue reading at “Stop HS2 now” say Buckinghamshire councillors
Aylesbury Vale and Chiltern District Councils have also agreed special motions to call on the Government to pause all current site work with South Bucks District Council also agreeing to write to HS2 to express concerns.
On 29 Apr Dame Cheryl Gillan, MP for Chesham and Amersham, asked Parliament an urgent question on the HS2 route in Buckinghamshire:
She told the House, “this error-ridden project is costing our local authorities more and more”. She called on the Government to agree to Buckinghamshire County Council’s “perfectly reasonable request […] to have a six-month pause to do a total re-evaluation of this project, which has already blown its timetable and its budget before it even has the go-ahead”.
Continue reading at Urgent question as Buckinghamshire councils call for HS2 halt
On the same date a new petition calling for exactly the same thing was published on the Parliament website. The petition runs until 29 Oct 2019 and can be signed here. It has already received over 10,000 signatures, so the Government will respond.
Meanwhile we would like to remind you that HS2 Ltd are holding three more drop-in sessions this month, where you can ask their contractors and engineers any questions you like on a one to one basis:
- Amersham Drop-in Session on 14 May 2019 at 4pm – 7.30pm
- Little Missenden and Hyde Heath Drop-in Session on 18 May 2019 at 11am – 2pm
- Great Missenden Drop-in Session on 31 May 2019 at 2pm – 6pm
For more information on future HS2 community events and drop-in sessions taking place in Buckinghamshire visit HS2 Commonplace events or HS2 Amersham Action Group news pages.