(BUTTON) More HS2: the human cost of Britain’s most expensive ever rail project The long read HS2 HS2: the human cost of Britain’s most expensive ever rail project Protesters against HS2 have been dismissed as nimbys, but there’s more at stake than house prices. Is there no future for life in the slow lane? -- Bob Edwards with Gillie, a male Peregrine Falcon, near Stoneleigh, near Coventry. The falconer will not be able to keep his birds if the high-speed railway goes ahead. [ ] Bob Edwards with Gillie, a male Peregrine Falcon, near Stoneleigh, near Coventry. The falconer will not be able to keep his birds at his home if the high-speed railway goes ahead. Photograph: Felix Clay/The Guardian -- own little world. HS2’s impact on urban homes and hedgehogs | Letters Read more Earlier that day, in an August downpour, I had set out to walk the route of the first phase of HS2, the new high-speed railway that, when it is completed in 2026, will stretch from London to Birmingham. I wanted to follow at 3mph the path the trains will take at 225mph, to see how they will transform the middle of England. Stepping out from West Ruislip station, where HS2 will emerge from a tunnel under north-west London, I crossed Breakspear Road South. Cars sluiced past noisily on wet asphalt. A forbidding fence stopped me exploring New Years Green Covert, the first of 59 ancient woodlands (more than 400 years old) which will be blighted, or even obliterated, by this first phase of HS2, according to the Woodland Trust. I had to press myself into brambles on a single-track road to avoid lorries destined for a municipal tip. The rain had penetrated my waterproof, and I was -- Ron Ryall will lose his business and home in West Ruislip if, as seems likely, the HS2 line is built. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Ron Ryall will lose his business and home in West Ruislip if, as seems likely, the HS2 line is built. Photograph: Felix Clay/The Guardian Under the current plans for the route of HS2, one pillar of a viaduct whisking high-speed trains over the Colne Valley will go through Ryall’s living room. “It’s going to wipe my house out,” he said, giving me an intense look from behind wire-framed, aviator-style spectacles. -- Ryall laughed. He had been to Westminster to petition MPs about changing the route. Anyone affected by HS2 can address concerns to a select committee of six MPs, who can ask HS2 Ltd, the government-funded company that is developing the railway, to tweak its plans. “I love my country but I fear my government,” he said, fishing some sheets of A4 -- London. Photograph: Patrick Barkham/The Guardian HS2 will be the first mainline railway built between British cities since the Great Central linked London and Sheffield in 1899. During the 20th century Britain built roads, not railways, and other countries swooshed past us: the Japanese with their 198mph Shinkansen, the French with their 200mph TGVs and the Chinese with their 268mph Maglev. So when the government announced HS2 in 2010, it emphasised that 250mph trains will cut London-Birmingham rail journeys to 49 minutes, saving 32 minutes. Critics questioned the need for modest time-savings and deplored the rising cost of HS2 to a predicted £56.6bn, nearly 10 times the price of the 68-mile HS1 between the Channel Tunnel and London. In response, HS2 Ltd reduced the top speed of the trains, and placed less emphasis on shorter journey times in its publicity announcements. Instead, HS2’s supporters have argued that a new south-north connection will ease a looming capacity crisis on the railways and boost the economy beyond London. The West Coast Mainline from London to Glasgow -- Railways are well liked and environmentally friendly, passenger numbers are soaring and HS2 is as popular with Westminster politicians as it is with Chinese investors. I expected to find opposition as I explored how HS2 will change the middle of England but, as I walked on, I was surprised by the depth of the disconnect from Westminster thinking. To many residents, HS2 has come to symbolise a country run against the interests of the many and in the interests of the few. An anti-HS2 banner in Potter Row, near South Heath, Buckinghamshire, close to the proposed route. Facebook Twitter Pinterest An anti-HS2 banner in Potter Row, near South Heath, Buckinghamshire, close to the proposed route. Photograph: Patrick Barkham/The Guardian On the second day of my journey, I met Jacky Statham standing by a stile in drizzle on the side of the Misbourne valley, above her home in the village of Great Missenden. The route of HS2 will pass a few miles from her door. Asked what she felt about HS2, she said: “Absolute horror. Despair, horror, depression, anxiety. They are lovely big expensive houses round here. We have to be careful not to say, ‘My -- normal people here too, like me.” The Chilterns is a place of beech woods whose residents tolerate the slow trains on tracks laid by Victorians into Marylebone station. Following the route of HS2 there was easy. “Stop HS2” and “Bury HS2” posters were fixed to lampposts, banners hung between fine trees over country roads. In response to a well-organised campaign, it has been agreed that the line will be -- lived.) The footpaths I followed became swamped with knapweed, bramble and nettle. I reached a field of old tractors and rusty bits of machinery. This pleasantly dilapidated farm will be wiped out as HS2 crosses the valley on another viaduct. A yellow JCB was running in the yard and inside a dusty barn I found a dusty farmer wearing a bright -- “There’s still a lot of this around here,” he said, tugging on an imaginary forelock when I asked him about HS2 (though he declined to give his name). His grandfather and father were tenant farmers and obeyed strict rules: they were not even allowed to shoot a rabbit for -- hands in pockets. He had been “daft enough” to buy 170 acres in his 30s and was still going, aged 68, with beef cattle and arable land. And HS2? “A pain in the arse. You can’t plan anything.” Farmers plan five, 10 years ahead and this complaint was repeated along the route. What about the consultation process? He felt it had not included the little people: HS2 Ltd “haven’t really met anybody – only those that want a free lunch, the hooray Henrys”. And so he had not petitioned parliament. Instead, he had simply received official HS2 letters addressed “to the owner”. Over the last five years, he said, no one had bothered to discover his name. “We haven’t seen anyone with a collar -- At Wendover, 20 miles into my walk, the Chilterns vanished and the Vale of Aylesbury lay ahead, flatter fields of heavy clay soil that clung to my walking boots. HS2 will pass close to the modest housing estates of west Aylesbury and at a more respectful distance from Waddesdon Manor, a French chateau built on a wooded hill by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild in 1874. It was uncanny how HS2 appeared to be so straight but subtly avoided stately homes, churches and (most) golf courses. It could not, however, miss the estate belonging to Christopher Prideaux, -- Christopher Prideaux, Lower South Farm, near Quainton, Bucks, outside the grade II* listed house, which has been owned by his family for 500 years. HS2 will cut through his land. Facebook Twitter Pinterest -- hall. Prideaux was smartly turned out in a blue checked shirt, red tank top and mustard cords, but drove me around his 1,400 acres in a middle-aged Subaru estate with tattered newspapers in the footwell. HS2 will pretty much divide his land down the middle. One of his two tenant farms will cease to be economically viable. He will lose farm buildings -- Residents within 60m of the line can sell their property to the government for its “unblighted” value. Even if Prideaux does not sell up, he will be compensated for HS2: there will be money for lost acreage, lost production and also “injurious affection”. Which means? “In my best Australian, total buggeration.” Prideaux scoffed at the theory shared by some local people that big landowners secretly favoured HS2 because they will make millions. But then, he reflected, “everybody’s situation is different and so it’s easy for HS2 to play divide and rule. If you’re an elderly landowner with no particular successors you might say, ‘I’ll roll over for a cheque.’” -- be done in a hurry when we are a little country.” He had a touching faith in the democratic process and was looking forward to a Lords’ debate on the economic case for HS2, scheduled for the following month. We sat in the Subaru, Prideaux discussing HS2’s destruction of his huge blackthorn hedges, a relic of the hunting forest, and the rare butterflies and bats that depend on them. Environmental consultants employed by HS2 have been scrambling to understand what wildlife it threatens, and what “mitigation” – the planting of replacement hedgerows, woods or other habitats – can be undertaken. Prideaux -- An example of a rare Bechstein’s bat roost in a partially hollow oak tree, Finemere Wood, Buckinghamshire, ancient wood and nature reserve adjacent to HS2 Facebook Twitter Pinterest -- An example of a rare Bechstein’s bat roost in a partially hollow oak tree, Finemere Wood, Buckinghamshire, ancient wood and nature reserve next to HS2 Photograph: Patrick Barkham/The Guardian After Prideaux dropped me off in a neighbour’s muddy farmyard, I -- Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust. At the top was a scrawny oak with a creviced scar – part of the mouse-sized Bechstein’s main roost. HS2 will divide these roosts from the bat’s feeding grounds on Prideaux’s land. Tim Read, a young ecologist with a bouncy stride, took me on a tour of the wood. “There’s also brown long-eared, natterers, pipistrelles,” he said. An infrequently used freight line taking Londoners’ rubbish to landfill had become “a great little highway for bats” alongside the wood, he said. But high-speed lines do not permit wooded embankments. Trees – and deer and badgers – are a menace to fast trains. So a concrete and steel-fenced barrier -- the route as it swept past a vast new incinerator, several quarries and landfill sites and a wealth of handsome working farms. Everyone I came across criticised HS2. Phil Jenkins was planting lavender outside his 1930s semi in Calvert Green; the line will pass within yards of his home. “These bloody – excuse my French – trains. It’s just for rich -- it’s gone for ever.” The farm where Pauline Harkin breeds horses will be obliterated by HS2. Facebook Twitter Pinterest The farm where Pauline Harkin breeds horses will be obliterated by HS2. Photograph: Felix Clay/The Guardian Days Five and Six: Newton Purcell to Hunningham, 37.25 miles The Victorians would have enthusiastically endorsed HS2. The Great Central, which opened in 1899, was the brainchild of Sir Edward Watkin, an indefatigable Victorian entrepreneur, and might be considered Britain’s first high-speed railway. It duplicated existing routes from Sheffield to London but was a superior piece of engineering: gentle curves and gradients and only one level crossing. Most notably, it was -- generals who feared a French invasion. A typical view of a Northamptonshire field through which HS2 will pass, near Halse Copse Facebook Twitter Pinterest A typical view of a Northamptonshire field through which HS2 will pass, near Halse Copse. Photograph: Patrick Barkham/The Guardian Watkin would surely be gratified to find HS2 shadowing the skeleton of the Great Central, through north Buckinghamshire. I tried following the old line. Many disused railways have been turned into green footpaths, -- We may think of England as an urban country, dominated by people and roads but HS2’s route through the middle – Buckinghamshire, a smidgen of Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire and Warwickshire – has been plotted along a largely unpopulated fieldscape. Each field is like a room: -- On a hilltop beyond the Northamptonshire village of Culworth, I stopped to admire the valley formed by a nameless tributary of the River Cherwell. HS2 will cut past a historic battleground, Danes Moor, below. The only buildings visible across five miles of wheat and pasture were three barns, one of which was a ruin. There were no houses, no pylons, -- of England possesses this grace and silence. But it has no voice. High-speed rail was intended to close up these spaces between us. In turn, they will become less peaceful, less attractive to people and emptier than ever. But perhaps this land was ripe for developments such as HS2 because most of us had already vacated it. By the time I crossed into Warwickshire, I was wearying of the desolation. In the absence of people, communication was via signs: “Beware of the bull”, “Beware -- marking is used in this area”. If strangers were not permitted to enjoy the countryside, why would anyone beyond local residents care enough to stop HS2 dividing it? So when I heard someone cheerily singing along to bhangra in his allotment on the edge of Southam, I followed the tune. Kamaljeet Bhandari, an associate specialist at University Hospital -- Kamaljeet Bhandari, an allotment-holder in Southam, Warwickshire, is in favour of HS2. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Kamaljeet Bhandari, an allotment-holder in Southam, Warwickshire, is in favour of HS2. Photograph: Felix Clay/The Guardian Suddenly Bhandari produced a carrier bag and filled it with beans for -- want fast internet? Of course you do. Do you have a computer for a phone? Everybody wants fast from day one.” He hated the dominance of London; how he had to go there to see a good play. But won’t HS2 make the capital even more domineering? “Many people wouldn’t think twice about applying for work in the north if they only have a 45-minute -- Warwickshire is densely wooded, its earth ochre and its houses red brick, not stone. I followed where HS2 will cross the pretty Leam valley and dive through the middle of South Cubbington Wood. This ancient woodland was a tangle of honeysuckle and hawthorn; its most -- I had arranged to met Ed Green, chief executive of Warwickshire Wildlife Trust, by the tree. Like a number of conservationists, he agreed that HS2, if planned well, had the potential to benefit the environment, providing a natural corridor through the intensively farmed English countryside. “We’ve got climate change pushing species further north, but their habitats have been destroyed and broken up. HS2 is an opportunity to build a piece of ecological infrastructure, a wildlife corridor that allows species to move up through that landscape,” he said. Green sought a constructive relationship with HS2. He had offered HS2 Ltd his Wildlife Trust’s skills and surveying expertise. He had petitioned the HS2 committee of MPs and, ultimately, hoped to persuade them to tunnel under South Cubbington Wood. While the golf course at nearby Kenilworth had been reprieved, this woodland was -- Guardian “What is HS2’s ambition?” said Green. “It’s just to get trains from Birmingham to London as quickly as possible. The cost of being as ambitious for the environment would be a fraction of 1% of the railway. -- things but we’ve lost contact with the real world.” What did he think of HS2? “It’s probably necessary,” he said, but he was upset by how HS2 Ltd has treated those affected by it. Edwards’ home and business won’t be destroyed by the line – although it passes close enough to diminish his quality of life – but his birds could be. -- Edwards fears this long-undisturbed earth will release aspergillus spores, a fungal mould that kills raptors. He also flies his hawks every day on his neighbouring 500-acre farm, through which HS2 will speed. “My birds don’t understand a 200mph train. They will pursue their quarry – a rabbit or pheasant – unaware of the potential danger. -- Before I finished my walk, the House of Lords debated the economic case for HS2. Torrential rain fell on the queue of people waiting outside parliament to go through security. Before listening to the debate, I ducked into the oak-panelled Walpole Room, where the HS2 committee were listening to petitioners. Political sketchwriters have mocked these discussions for resembling an obscure provincial planning meeting but -- described the area as “refreshment” for stressed urbanites. She expressed fears about the construction’s impact on her business, local roads, noise and barn owls. She suggested that HS2’s mitigation could include new chalk grassland. She was polite and deferential and tried to entertain the committee by brandishing a plastic bag containing a -- The panel of MPs – all men, all of late middle age – barely glanced up. Only the chair, Robert Syms, looked engaged. Attending to endless petitioners must become repetitive. HS2’s barrister, James Strachan QC, was listening closely, however, and addressed specific points with a lawyer’s care to make no rash promises: HS2’s noise would be less than traffic on the A413; HS2 were working with the RSPB to “mitigate” for barn owls; and, “If there’s a need for chalk grassland, that’s the sort of thing that can be put into these areas to compensate.” Wendy Gray -- unknown quantity,” she said. An anti-HS2 sign on the A46 outside Coventry. Facebook Twitter Pinterest An anti-HS2 sign on the A46 outside Coventry. Photograph: Patrick Barkham/The Guardian -- John Prescott – tottered in and out of the chamber. At first, their debate drifted far from the concerns of the people I had met. Lord Desai spoke about “using animal spirits” to decide in favour of HS2. Lord Mitchell wondered whether high-speed travel was relevant because we would soon connect via holograms of ourselves. Labour peers from the north tended to favour HS2; others argued that the Manchester-Leeds electrification was more important. Lord Truscott revealed that the expected cost of construction per mile for HS2 is up to nine times higher than France’s high-speed lines. Lord Mitchell wondered if driverless cars would confound forecasts of ever-rising rail passenger numbers. The Bishop of Chester quoted from Ecclesiastes. “My worry is that the proponents of HS2 have made the terrible business mistake of falling in love with their investment,” declared Lord Wolfson, a Conservative peer and Next chief executive who, at 48, was by far the youngest-looking person in the chamber. “The alternative to HS2 is not another grand project, it is myriad small, high-return projects that would deliver benefits in the near future: bypasses, flyovers, underpasses, commuter line upgrades, carriage improvements, -- after my discomfort on the deserted, brambled-choked footpaths of rural England. This tree-lined path will be noisily overtaken, and partially rerouted, by HS2. The countryside was wooded but the city’s proximity was revealed in the packaging (Carling, Capri-Sun, Cadbury’s Fingers) thrown onto verges. Planes descended into Birmingham International, as -- by Berkswell Hall. The rough meadows earmarked for HS2’s new Birmingham interchange station, Middle Bickenhill. Facebook Twitter Pinterest The rough meadows earmarked for HS2’s new Birmingham interchange station, Middle Bickenhill. Photograph: Patrick Barkham/The Guardian -- site with the potential for 20,000 new jobs and thousands of homes”. It could become “a major enterprise zone”, Adonis, the former transport secretary now employed by HS2, told the Lords debate excitedly. But it needed “strong leadership” because there were “major unresolved green belt issues”. -- for the M42. Now they are moving us again.” The woman’s home will be surrounded by a car park for HS2’s Birmingham Interchange. She attended a local HS2 meeting but felt patronised and ignored. “They have security at the door. There were five or six men in beautiful grey suits. The men don’t want to know. They just talk to -- Topics * HS2 * The long read -- (BUTTON) Close [p?c1=2&c2=6035250&cv=2.0&cj=1&comscorekw=HS2%2CRail+transport%2CUK+new s%2CWildlife%2CEnvironment]