Amersham Newsletter - January 2017

As the campaign against HS2 enters a new year, it’s time bring you up to date with the ongoing activities of the HS2 Amersham Action Group.

Although 2016 was a frustrating year, the campaign continues - albeit with a changing emphasis.  In June, the HS2AAG appeared before the House of Lords Select Committee, arguing our right to petition for extended tunnelling and other mitigation for Amersham and the Chilterns.  Perhaps predictably, the Lords chose to turn a deaf ear to us and all other action groups.  The departure of Cameron and Osborne briefly raised our hopes, but HS2 continues to roll on in defiance of the facts.  Just last September, the Adam Smith Institute labelled the project ‘economically irresponsible’; the Lords Economic Affairs Committee reminded the Chancellor that the case for HS2 has not been made and the Public Accounts Committee slated its volatile costs, unrealistic timescales, the lack of money for regeneration and the lack of planning for its impact of on existing train services.  And the Chief Executive of HS2 Ltd jumped ship!  Even now, the Chairman of the Treasury Committee is in correspondence with the Secretary of State for Transport, challenging the economic case and the business case which suggest that HS2 will “hardly be worth the candle”. 

Yet despite all this, work on HS2 gathers pace.   At a local level, ground surveys continue and more properties have been sold to HS2 Ltd.  The engineering contract for the Chiltern tunnel is due to be awarded later this year, with tunnelling starting in 2018.  At Westminster, after missing the December deadline for royal assent, the HS2 Bill is now in the Committee stage in the Lords.  This will be followed by the Report Stage, Third Reading, consideration of amendments and then, finally, Royal Assent.  However, when – and if – this is granted, construction through the Chilterns is likely to prove a bumpy ride.  For example, it is believed that drilling around Shardeloes and the Misbourne Valley has identified deep pockets in the chalk which can’t be tunnelled for fear of polluting the water table.  If this were to require any re-routing of the tunnel, the position of surface features such as the vent shafts could well be affected.

So what of the future?  It is clear that the HS2 Amersham Action Group will be kept busy on everyone’s behalf.  As the threat of construction creeps nearer, we will be monitoring local activities and developments and liaising with the appropriate bodies to respond as best we can.   We are also continuing to work with the Federation of Action Groups Against HS2, which is dedicated to exploiting any remaining opportunity to stop HS2.  

As always, we will be keeping local residents informed of key developments.  If in the meantime you would like to check on the latest news, these are the websites to watch:  our own News pages will carry local information;
http://stophs2.org/ provides the national picture and    
http://www.newsnow.co.uk/h/Current+Affairs/Travel+&+Transport/Rail/HS2+Rail+Line presents news on HS2 as it breaks in the media.   

Thank you once again for your continuing interest and support: we will be in touch again soon!
HS2 Amersham Action Group
18th January 2017