Wildlife-Friendly Alternatives to HS2 (better buses!)
The High Speed 2 (HS2) project has cost billions of pounds, in order to create a train route that hardly anyone will use (we need to slow down not speed up) and commuters could communicate by zoom? The fact that it will connect to airport hubs, shows that it won’t reduce climate change, as it will encourage flying? All experts say that it will do nothing for the planet.
Yet already the project has decimated huge swathes of Buckinghamshire countryside, pulled down England’s second-oldest pear tree (in Warwickshire) and killed countless birds and wildlife.
HS2 is planned to span hundreds of miles, including linking the south to the north. But all critics say the amount of money spent, would be far better used update rolling stock, improve northern and southwestern rail lines, re-open closed rural stations and improve community bus transport.
Why England Doesn’t Need HS2
Financial Times journalist Simon Kuper lives in Paris, and regularly ‘zips into London’ on TGV (France’s high-speed train). He says the UK version is a vanity project, as England is a quarter of the size of France or Spain, so London to Manchester is half the distance of most TGV journeys.
We can easily reach places without need for flying, so we don’t need a ‘replacement’ for something that’s not needed.
One of the few good policies of Reform UK is to simply scrap it as a bad idea, and use the money to do something useful instead.
Unfortunately most MPs (of all colours) voted for HS2 – see how your MP voted at TheyWorkForYou.
As well as not making a dent in reducing climate change emissions, once built, HS2 will (based on comparisons with other high-speed trains abroad) kill around 20,000 wildlife a year. Many will be swans and other birds that mistake rail lines for rivers, in heavy rain.
And by knocking down lots of ancient woodlands, this will contribute to more flooding (and less natural home for birds and native wildlife.
The Barn Owl Trust says that HS2 is a ‘very expensive way of killing owls. Join the campaign to Stop HS2.
A report by wildlife experts says that HS2 bosses have got their calculations wrong, and wants the existing work halted until updated methodology is used so new (correct) findings are assessed by government.
Wildlife campaigner Chris Packham took the government to court (and lost) to stop HS2 on the grounds that it would cause irreversible damage to ancient woodlands and habitats. He argued that the government was badly advised by vested interests, and did not take account of obligations under the Paris Agreement and Climate Change Act.
Many wildlife species also live near railways, which is why Network Rail employs ecologists to know how to least affect lizards, grass snakes, deer, water voles and slow worms (along with Pipistrelle bats that roost in trees, tunnels and bridges).
