HS2 Noise Mitigation

NOISE MITIGATION ON THE BYPASS

HAVE YOUR SAY

Bucks County Council will be carrying out a public consultation on bypass noise mitigation for six weeks, starting in September. It is really important that they consult on both options (noise barriers and very low noise surface) so that the people of Wendover can express a choice.

You will have seen in July’s Wendover News that we are conducting a survey of your opinions on our website https://tinyurl.com/noisebarrier. If you haven’t already given us your opinion, please do so, as this will be very helpful in our discussions with the Council.

The responses so far are very interesting. There have been encouraging comments about the information on the website, and useful feedback on experiences of low noise surfaces and noise barriers in the UK and other countries. We look forward to hearing from YOU!

STOP PRESS HS2 INFORMATION

On 5 July Effiage Kier, the main HS2 major civil engineering contractor, presented their current designs and plans for the Wendover Area to a full house in St Mary’s Church. They showed their draft proposal for the A413 Small Dean Viaduct and the Green Tunnel. The viaduct is massive. It involves engineering challenges to cope with crossing the road at a shallow angle and handling the stability requirement for 250mph trains to negotiate the bend.

WE DON’T LIKE IT

The audience considered the steel and concrete design monstrous and inappropriate in an AONB. EK said that after their discussions with AVDC and HS2 Chilterns AONB Review Group, they had concluded that in order to satisfy HS2’s current requirements this design was the best available option.

THINK AGAIN

The meeting asked EK to go back to HS2 and ask them for permission to consider the Mined Tunnel alternative – a better and more cost effective alternative for Wendover.

THERE IS MORE

EK also showed plans for the Green Tunnel and its South Portal These “key design elements” are subject to AONB design scrutiny. They did not, however, show pictures of the massive Small Dean Embankment beside the south end of the bypass and the North Cutting with its impact on the Coombe Hill aquifer.

MAKE YOUR FEELING KNOWN

There will be opportunities for you to see the proposals and make your feelings known at Wendover Library in August, and in “drop-in” sessions planned for later this year.

TOO EXPENSIVE

The cost quotations for the current designs are considerably more than the government’s estimate and the contractors have been told to reduce their costs. We hope that common sense will prevail and that EK will be allowed to consider the cheaper mined tunnel solution.

KEEP INFORMED

In order to accommodate this re-design work, the starting date for the construction has been pushed back to June 2019. There will be more preparatory works over the next three months. Details should be available on the HS2 local area website, at https://tinyurl.com/HS2inBucks

Wendover HS2 Group