15-Jan-2015

Colne Valley - Select Committee Visit on
Thursday 15-Jan-2015

At the 'Old Orchard' pub, Harefield, to view site of the proposed
Colne Valley Viaduct -

- and the Hillingdon Outdoor Activities Centre, which would be
destroyed by the viaduct.

See also - Frank's account of the visit.

From Frank Partridge -

13-Jan-2015

Dear Petitioners and Supporters

At last! We now have a final (we hope) itinerary for the Select Committee’s visit to the Colne Valley on Thursday.

It’s been made very clear to the organisers that insufficient time is being devoted to Denham and South Harefield, and Bucks CC have asked them to come back and do it properly when they visit the rest of Buckinghamshire in the spring, but we do have an opportunity on Thursday to convey our concerns and demonstrate the strength of local feeling about HS2’s plans for our community. Unfortunately, we haven’t been invited on board the coach (unlike campaigners from Ruislip, Ickenham and Harefield) but we’re hoping that some of the invitees will be able to provide commentaries during the tour, and explain what the MPs are not able to see in the short time available.

The first obvious gathering point is at Denham Station around 8:50am, when the MPs – and no fewer than thirteen visitors from HS2 Ltd - arrive off the train from Marylebone. Only four of the six committee MPs will be on the tour, but Dominic Grieve and Nick Hurd will meet them at different stages of the route. When they board the coach at Denham Station, their first visit is to Savay Farm, where the owners will show them around the house and grounds (weather permitting) and they’ll get a close-up view of Savay Lake (which is due to be sliced in half by the viaduct) from a bedroom window. The owner of the lake will be there to explain the implications for carp fishers etc. ‘Meeting petitioners’ is mentioned in the accompanying note at this point, but the Savay Farm visit is scheduled to last only 20 minutes, so it might be more productive for a few to gather in the car park outside Harefield Marina (off Moorhall Rd), where the MPs are due to arrive at 9:35am. We hope to have signs by the roadside showing where the viaduct would cross Moorhall Rd. They’ll be shown where the Broadwater Lake SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest) is when they view the area from the Grand Union Canal bridge, and told about other points of interest around there that they won’t have time to visit.

Stop 3 is the car park at Denham Water Ski Club (10:15am) where the owner will explain that the viaduct and planned access road for construction vehicles – which suddenly appeared in the Environmental Statement in the autumn but has been left off the official HS2 maps – will make his business unviable if construction goes ahead.

A 10-minute stop is planned at 10:30am, at a ‘viewing point over the Colne Valley’ near the A412, but unless they go up Tilehouse Lane to see the entire construction site spreading towards Chalfont Lane and the M25, they won’t get a proper view. Efforts will be made to ensure that the coach visits the natural viewpoint on this side of the valley from the top of the hill. If not, we’ll insist that they come back and see it in the future – and if they fail to do that we should all insert a strong objection into our petition presentations. This is the biggest HS2 construction site in the county, and they’re devoting a maximum of 10 minutes to it.

The best gathering point of all is in the car park outside the Old Orchard pub, at 10:50am. The pub’s in Hillingdon, but the car park affords the best view of the SSSI and the route of the proposed line through the valley. This visit will last 15 minutes. Then some of the Bucks personnel on the coach will change places with their Hillingdon counterparts, and the tour will continue to Harvil Road, HOAC and the Ruislip tunnel portal, all of which warrant more time than is being scheduled. At 2:00pm, the tour ends with lunch at a pub in Ruislip, and then they all return to London.

Obviously these timings might change, and the coach might detour from the published route, but if you could make it to one or more of the gathering points – Denham Station, Harefield Marina, Denham Water Ski Club or the Old Orchard – the more the merrier. We’re keen not to antagonise the MPs by mounting any kind of demonstration, but signs and banners have been displayed at previous site visits, and no objections have been lodged. I understand the Select Committee members are perfectly approachable, and happy to answer questions or listen to different points of view.

I hope a goodly number will be able to turn up at one or more of the suggested rendezvous points: wear wellies and bring brollies!

Best wishes

Frank