Wendover HS2 Mitigation Action Group update, April 2022

Digging the Wendover “Green Tunnel”
During March we started to see the scale of the cutting needed to build the Green Tunnel with the removal of about 100 yards of hedgerows across Ellesborough Road from the cottages vacated for demolition. “Devegetation” has also been undertaken for the temporary diversion roads for the link road to Bacombe Lane and behind the cottages to maintain access to Butlers Cross.

We understand that the cottages will go in April and the Ellesborough Road diversion is expected to be available in July.

Once the cutting is available across Ellesborough Road its initial use will be to act as part of the “Haul Road” enabling massive 70 ton dump trucks to move excavated material from the cutting works near Great Missenden to form the covering for the Green Tunnel and an embankment at Stoke Mandeville.

The scale of the operation is massive, with the equivalent of 75,000 dump truck return trips anticipated. Originally these were expected to cross Ellesborough Road at traffic lights, but thankfully the plan has been changed with the diversion road including a bridge over the cutting to allow free movement of local traffic above the dump truck route.

Getting this material across the A413 and Chiltern railway line was also challenging, and the plan is now to install an overhead conveyor belt system at Small Dean. We can expect night time closures of the A413 around Easter at the same time as the Chiltern Line is closed. The official diversion route for HGVs is through High Wycombe, but we would expect cars to probably use the Rignall Road from Butlers Cross to Great Missenden to avoid the Small Dean area.

The excavation for the Green Tunnel and the Wendover North Cutting is expected to involve another 780,000 cubic metres of earthworks being moved locally. That will add about 90,000 dump truck loads this year.

To make all this happen the old Cricket Ground has been converted into a work compound, enabling overnight parking of diggers and dump trucks.

Monitoring HS2 Lorries in Wendover
We are pleased to see that Bucks Council have responded to reports of HGV lorries working for HS2 passing through Wendover with the installation of CCTV monitoring cameras at the junction of Church Lane and South Street. In order for them to raise issues with HS2 they welcome email notification of the date and time of any instances to EWRANDHS2enquiries@buckinghamshire.gov.uk. The system is expected to be in place for only 3 months to determine the scale of the problem, so please report any lorries that you think are working for HS2.

Planning Approvals
The actual design of the Green Tunnel and Small Dean Viaduct has not been revealed since the public meetings in 2019, and we know that there have been some changes made. It’s not clear if the issues about handling the North Wendover Noise and the impact of the Coombe Hill Aquifer have been addressed in the initial design. We should see the outcome in the “Schedule 17” submissions to Bucks Council by the end of April.

Community mitigation funds
There are a small number of projects being successfully received for Wendover & surrounding villages. We encourage all groups to submit their pitches for mitigation funding. Chiltern Forest Golf Club have just received a grant of £27,000 to refurbish their women’s changing rooms. Contact us if you need help as we have been supporting individuals badly affected by HS2 plans, with some success.

Fundraising & ideas
If you would like to help us “Do what’s right for Wendover”, have a look at our website www.whs2.org where you’ll find details of what we’re doing, and our ‘donate’ button which leads to our fundraising page. All contributions are gratefully received to help us fight the HS2 Scheme before it’s built.

If you have ideas and suggestions that would mitigate the community impact, then get in touch at enquiries@whs2.org and we’ll assist however we can. Remember that the HS2 Helpdesk is available 24 hours a day to handle any complaints on 08081 434 434.

Doing what’s right for Wendover
See whs2.org