01-Jun-2024

Grims Ditch - Saved !(?)

The Environmental Statement assessed Grim’s Ditch to be of high value and described it as ‘the most substantial land boundary in the Chiltern District’, noting that ‘dating the Scheduled Monument is difficult, although it may have an origin in the 1st millennium BC. The HS2 rail line crosses Grim’s Ditch in a cutting and approximately 150m of the Scheduled Monument will be completely removed. The ES impact assessment stated that this would cause a change to the value of Grim’s Ditch so that it is totally altered and it’s setting comprehensively changed. This would result in changes in the ability to understand and appreciate its historical context and setting by the severing of the Scheduled Monument. The impact of the scheme is defined in the ES as Permanent High Adverse and the effect Permanent Major Adverse

The proposed solution (PL/24/1492/HS2 ) -

50m or so of sheet piling protect several feet of the space where Grims Ditch used to be -

and it looks so much better, without all those trees in the way -

"The trunks of the trees within the scheduled monument that have been felled as part of the construction works have been left in situ. " (EMP letter)

Stumps may be the word you are searching for -

• Why fell all the trees, when there is space to save the stumps ? Nothing to do with selling the timber, obvs.
• No sign of the 'green corridor' ? Artist must have forgotten to draw it ...
• No bats were harmed during this exercise, fortunately