HS2 Update for March 2012
Urgent Appeal – Judicial Review can still stop HS2
We need to act now. Money is needed urgently to fund this legal action.
The planned Judicial Review, funded by action groups opposed to HS2, will challenge the government on the grounds that HS2 is in breach of the law regarding the environment and habitat and also on the grounds of the flawed consultation process. This is separate from the legal action being pursued by the County and District Councils.
Together with other action groups, Wendover HS2 is committed to raising the required funds.
Please give generously for this critical legal fight. Donations and pledges are needed by 29th February.
You can donate in the following ways:
Cheque payable to ‘Wendover HS2 Legal’ and sent to HS2 Treasurer, Boddington East, Hale Lane, Wendover HP22 6NQ
Direct to Lloyds Bank plc (account no: 38524660; sort code: 30-90-38; account name: Wendover HS2 Legal)
Online with credit or debit card via www.wendoverhs2.org (there is a 2% charge to Wendover HS2 for this method of payment)
Don’t forget…Judicial Review stopped the 3rd runway at Heathrow at the 11th hour.
Judicial Review can still stop HS2.
Thank you.
Marion Clayton, Chairman, Wendover HS2.
The campaign against HS2 is stepping up a gear, following the announcement by Bucks County Council and the other members of the ’51m’ group of county and district councils that they will be seeking a judicial review of the Government’s decision to proceed.
Anti-HS2 community groups along the line of the route have come together to seek separate judicial reviews of environmental aspects of HS2 and the Government’s decision to offer only a limited compensation scheme. This twin-track approach, with the councils and action groups making separate challenges, is to ensure that all the key decisions the Government has taken are considered by the courts. The Wendover HS2 Action Group is in favour of this approach and legal advice gives us some confidence that it can succeed. We believe this offers the best chance of getting the Government to reassess HS2 and the chosen route as part of a proper enquiry into the country’s strategic transport needs.
Wendover HS2 is now seeking funds to contribute to the action groups’ legal challenges, and to enable us to continue fighting strongly for a better deal for Wendover and the surrounding villages if HS2 does go ahead. This is a critical point in the campaign and we need to raise a substantial sum of money. By law, if we are to challenge the Government’s decisions about HS2, we have to do so immediately.
Please help if you can, by sending a cheque for whatever you can afford, made out to ‘Wendover HS2 Legal’, to Antony Chapman, Treasurer, Wendover HS2, Boddington East, Hale Lane, Wendover, Bucks HP22 6NQ. This is our last and best chance to halt HS2 in its tracks!
Wendover HS2 would like to thank the Lionel Abel-Smith Trust for its pledge of £5,000, making a total of £11,000 donated by the Trust to fight against HS2.
In parallel with the legal challenge, we must continue to press the Government for a proper bored tunnel right through the Chilterns in the event HS2 does go ahead. The latest plan – with the line in a tunnel as it passes central Wendover – is a huge improvement, but it still leaves residents of London Road and the surrounding hills exposed to an even higher viaduct, and the beautiful Chilterns countryside blighted forever.
Please write today to Justine Greening, Transport Secretary, House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA or greeningj@parliament.uk urging her to reconsider her decision to reject a bored tunnel right through the Chilterns, which she did on cost grounds.
Finally, we need your help to improve the Government’s proposed compensation scheme. We believe the question about compensation in the HS2 consultation was not fair, and that the Government has rejected the best of the options for compensation.
Please write to the Transport Secretary and to David Lidington MP urging them to provide the high-quality compensation scheme we were promised and that helps everyone affected by HS2, and not just those suffering exceptional hardship.
BBOWT response to HS2
The altered route of HS2 still impacts on dozens of wildlife sites in Buckinghamshire. Read the latest updates on the Berks, Bucks & Oxon Wildlife Trust’s website www.bbowt.org.uk and download a document listing the wildlife sites affected: http://www.bbowt.org.uk/content.asp?did=26682