Stop HS2 is a campaign group which opposes the High Speed 2 (HS2) railway project in England. The group was set up in 2010 under the slogan "No business case. No environmental case. No money to pay for it." The following year it organised a conference and it has since challenged MPs, criticised HS2 plans and organised protests. In 2020, the group commented on the Oakervee report and supports illegal camps impeding construction in the Colne Valley Regional Park, Kenilworth and Wendover.
Stop HS2 was set up in 2010 with the aim of stopping High Speed 2 being built, campaigning on both national and local levels. [1] [2] According to the group, construction of the railway and its associated services will destroy woodland, affect local ecosystems and increase carbon emissions. Its slogan is "No business case. No environmental case. No money to pay for it." [3] Stop HS2 has challenged the predicted speeds and capacities of HS2. [4] The group tracks the evolving history of the HS2 project on its website. [5] Other groups opposing HS2 include the HS2 Action Alliance, The Wildlife Trusts and the Woodland Trust. [6] [7] [8]
The group has a chairperson, a treasurer and a campaign manager, relying on donations to pay them. In 2011, it made a fundraiser to pay its campaign manager Joe Rukin. [1] [2] Rukin lives in Kenilworth and condemned the "complete mismanagement of the project, the rampant cost escalation, the abandonment of all original timescales". [9] Stop HS2 organised a national conference in 2011 to co-ordinate opposition to HS2. Every Member of Parliament was invited and speakers included transport expert Christian Wolmar and representatives from the Green Party, the RSPB, the UK Independence Party and The Wildlife Trusts. [10]
Cheryl Gillan, MP for Chesham and Amersham, was challenged by Stop HS2 in 2012 for not following through on her threat to resign from her position as Secretary of State for Wales if HS2 was not cancelled. [11] She remained in opposition to the HS2 plans [12] and died in 2021. [13]
In early 2018, Stop HS2 criticised plans for a viaduct in the Colne Valley Regional Park which would be 2.1 miles (3.4 km) long. The group voiced concerns about the Overhead Line Equipment (OLE) and the noise barriers. [14] Stop HS2 protested outside the Conservative Party conference in summer 2018, shouting "terrible train disaster, read all about it!" and inflating a white elephant. [15] [16]
Stop HS2 organised a Stand for the Trees event in December 2019 with Extinction Rebellion and Save the Colne Valley Wildlife Protection Group which attracted around 1,300 people. They walked through the nature reserve, ending up at the Blackford Pumping Station. [17]
After a government commissioned review of HS2 was published in 2020 with a dissenting view by its deputy chair Tony Berkley, the chairperson of Stop HS2 commented "The case for HS2 has always been poor, and is simply getting worse". [18] According to her analysis, the project was first predicted to cost £33 billion, figures were then revised upwards and as of early 2020, the expected cost had risen to £88 billion. [19] A leaked report in February 2020 then put the costs at £106 billion. [20] [21] Rukin described the decision to continue during the coronavirus pandemic as "bafflingly irrational". [22]
In response to reports in February 2020 that China might be involved in HS2, Rukin stated this "should fill everyone with dread", citing concerns over corruption and safety in the Chinese railway network. [23]
In June 2020, participants in Stop HS2 and Extinction Rebellion made a seven day walk along the proposed railway line, starting at the site of Birmingham Curzon Street railway station and ending at Euston railway station in London. [21] Stop HS2 supports protest camps in places such as Crackley Woods near Kenilworth and Wendover. [24] [25]
In March 2021, Stop HS2's request for a judicial review of the decision to issue "Notice to Proceed" for phase 1 of HS2 was refused by the High Court. [26]
Wendover is a town and civil parish at the foot of the Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire, England. It is situated at the point where the main road across the Chilterns between London and Aylesbury intersects with the once important road along the foot of the Chilterns. The town is some 35 miles (56 km) north west of London and 5 miles (8 km) south east of Aylesbury.
Dame Cheryl Elise Kendall Gillan was a British politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Chesham and Amersham from 1992 until her death in 2021. A member of the Conservative Party, she served as Secretary of State for Wales from 2010 to 2012.
The modern environmental direct action movement in the United Kingdom started in 1991 with the formation of the first UK "Earth First!" group for a protest at Dungeness nuclear power station. Within two years, there were fifty Earth First groups and activists linked with other parties in the road protest movement. There were large camps at Twyford Down and the M11 link road protest. By 1997, the Government had decided to reduce its road-building plans by two thirds.
High-speed rail in the United Kingdom is provided on five upgraded railway lines running at top speeds of 125 mph (200 km/h) and one purpose-built high-speed line reaching 186 mph (300 km/h).
Old Oak Common (OOC) is a railway station under construction on the site of the Old Oak Common traction maintenance depot to the west of London in Old Oak Common, approximately 500 m (1,600 ft) south of Willesden Junction station. When built, it is expected to be one of the largest rail hubs in London, at about 800 m (2,600 ft) in length and 20 m (66 ft) below surface level.
High Speed 2 (HS2) is a planned high-speed railway line and network of passenger train services in England. It will consist of a new railway line between the West Midlands and London, with a branch to Birmingham, and a network of train services that will use the new line and existing conventional track to reach their destinations in the Midlands, Northern England, and Scotland. HS2 will be Britain's second purpose-built high-speed line, the first being High Speed 1, which connects London to the Channel Tunnel. The majority of the project is planned to be completed between 2029 and 2033. A 2019 review of the project, as then planned, estimated that it would cost up to £87 billion; however, this is estimated to have risen to approximately £100 billion in 2023.
The Colne Valley Regional Park is 43 square miles (110 km2) of parks, green spaces and reservoirs alongside the often multi-channel River Colne and parallel Grand Union Canal, mainly in Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire, with parts in the London Borough of Hillingdon, Berkshire and a small area in Surrey.
Andrew George Stephenson is a British politician serving as a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury since October 2022. He has served as a Whip or Minister continually since January 2018 under four Prime Ministers. A member of the Conservative Party, he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Pendle in Lancashire since 2010.
Birmingham Interchange is a planned High Speed 2 railway station in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, West Midlands, England, expected to open in 2026.
Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR), sometimes referred to unofficially as High Speed 3, is a proposed major rail programme designed to substantially enhance the economic potential of the North of England. The phrase was adopted in 2014 for a project featuring new and significantly upgraded railway lines in the region. The aim is to transform rail services between the major towns and cities, requiring the region's single biggest transport investment since the Industrial Revolution. The original scheme would have seen a new high-speed rail line from Liverpool to Warrington continuing to join the HS2 tunnel which it would share into Manchester Piccadilly station. From there, the line would have continued to Leeds with a stop at Bradford. The line was intended to improve journey times and frequency between major Northern cities as well as creating more capacity for local service on lines that express services would have been moved out from.
The history of High Speed 2 is the background to the planned construction of High Speed 2 (HS2), a new high-speed railway in Great Britain that would connect London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds and other cities in the UK.
The Cubbington Pear Tree was a wild pear tree located near Cubbington in Warwickshire, England. Around 250 years old, it was the second largest wild pear tree in the country and a noted local landmark. In 2015 the tree was voted England's Tree of the Year. A Parliamentary petition was launched in September 2020 to save the tree from being cut down for HS2 and a month later had over 20,000 signatures triggering an official government response. It was felled as part of the High Speed 2 railway development on 20 October 2020.
The Campaign to Electrify Britain's Railway (CEBR) is an internet-based campaign group formed in 2018 whose aim is to convince the government to completely electrify the British Railway network. Its slogan is "Down with Dirty Diesel." The campaign promotes a rolling programme of electrification, which it considers essential to improve UK railways and help to decarbonise transport. It collaborates with groups such as the Railway Industry Association, Rail Delivery Group, Birmingham Centre for Railway Research and Education, Campaign for Better Transport, Institute of Electrical Engineers and the Permanent Way Institution. The group has given evidence to the Transport Select Committee. Huw Merriman the committee chair at the time, put it writing he agreed with their view. Merriman was appointed as Minister of State for Rail and HS2 in October 2022. The desire to achieve net zero carbon in transport has increased calls for electrification.
The Colne Valley Viaduct is a bridge, under construction as of 2023, which will carry the High Speed 2 railway over the Colne Valley Regional Park and the Grand Union Canal, in Hillingdon, west London. When completed, its length of 2.1 miles (3.4 km) and a weight of 116,000 tonnes will make it the largest railway bridge in the UK. It is one of the largest single civil engineering works of HS2 Phase 1.
Jones' Hill Wood is a 1.8-hectare (4.4-acre) piece of ancient woodland near Wendover in Buckinghamshire, south England. Formed mainly of beech trees, the wood is part of the Chiltern Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Almost half of the wood is planned to be chopped down to make way for the route of High Speed 2 (HS2) and the topsoil will be translocated. In October 2020, a protest camp was evicted.
The Chiltern Tunnel is a high-speed railway tunnel currently under construction in Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire, England, and will upon completion carry the High Speed 2 (HS2) railway line under the Chiltern Hills. The twin-bore tunnels, which are 16.04 km long, will be the longest on the HS2 line. Each tunnel will also have additional 220 m (720 ft) entry and 135 m (443 ft) exit perforated concrete portals to reduce sudden changes in air pressure and subsequent noise.
The Wendover Dean Viaduct is a planned railway viaduct that will carry the High Speed 2 (HS2) railway line across farmland between Wendover and Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, England.
The HS2 rolling stock are trains for the under-construction High Speed 2 (HS2) high-speed rail line in the United Kingdom.