More than 100 of Britain’s most important wildlife habitats and dozens of ancient woodlands will be directly affected by the proposed high-speed rail link between London and the North.
In Nottinghamshire, the route goes through Bogs Farm Quarry, Selston (a site of specicial scientific interest) and it will be built over the only site of a Roman temple in Nottinghamshire situated at Ratcliffe-on-Soar.
Official documents also disclose that hundreds of acres of green-belt land will be lost and more than 1,000 buildings are to be demolished.
Conservationists and other campaigners reacted angrily to the figures, which were buried in a mass of documents published without fanfare by the Department for Transport. They are the fullest assessment of the environmental impact of the HS2 route, from London to Manchester and Leeds.
Until now only the impact of the first stage, from London to Birmingham, had been fully detailed. The high-speed rail link is backed by both parties, with George Osborne, the Chancellor, and other senior Cabinet ministers arguing that HS2 is vital infrastructure that will transform Britain’s “economic geography”. Its supporters say it will bring tens of thousands of jobs to the North by slashing journey times from London to Birmingham in the first phase, then Manchester and Leeds in the second.
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Critics have claimed that HS2’s business case does not stack up and opposition to the project is building in Westminster, with doubts voiced recently by a number of senior figures. Archie Norman, the former Conservative minister, writing in The Sunday Telegraph today, calls the risks “enormous”. Earlier this month, ministers revised up the scheme’s projected cost from £33billion to £42billion. Thousands of properties within a mile of the route have already been blighted, even though construction of the line is not set to begin until 2017. A full “sustainability statement” drawn up by the Department for Transport outlines the scheme’s expected impact, which includes:
* Depots and railway hubs will be built on 250 acres of green-belt land. Green-belt land will have to be crossed west of Newcastle-under-Lyme, north of Northwich, along a spur into Manchester and outside
* More than 616 homes will be bulldozed, up from the 565 initially forecast;
* 342 homes will be cut off from their community, 207 more than previously thought. The document acknowledges that HS2 could increase the risk of flooding in some areas. The area around Manchester Piccadilly station would be “at risk of flooding” because of building over watercourses. It said there would be plans to set aside money for flood compensation for potential victims. Trains will run along viaducts in floodplains to mitigate the risk of flooding. However, the analysis says “other solutions” to reduce the threat may have to be worked out later on.
Several sites of “special scientific interest” will be carved up by the train line, including Bogs Farm Quarry, near Selston, Notts, containing rare grassland rich in wildlife, and the River Mease in the Midlands, which is home to otters. Trains will also speed through four country parks that attract hundreds of thousands of visitors a year, including Kingsbury Water Park and Pooley Country Park in Warwickshire, and Rabbit Ings Country Park and Rothwell Country Park in South Yorks.
In Nottinghamshire, the remains of the county’s only known Roman temple will be concreted over.At least 32 ancient woodlands that have existed since at least the time of Elizabeth I will also be affected. Sue Holden, the chief executive of the Woodland Trust, said there could be “no mitigation” for loss of the “irreplaceable” wooded areas that have been there for at least four centuries.
The route will affect 27 listed buildings, putting at least five Grade II-listed structures including a 12th-century church building in Derbyshire, a hotel in Manchester with an 18th-century farmhouse, and a Victorian bridge in Leicestershire at risk of demolition.
Ralph Smyth, a transport campaigner for the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England, said: “The Government says it will leave 'no stone unturned’ in trying to maximise jobs and growth from HS2. Why is there no similar ambition to minimise the woodlands and nature sites that would be damaged by HS2?” Penny Gaines, chairman of the Stop HS2 campaign group, said: “We have been saying for a long time that the Department for Transport is failing to acknowledge the enormous damage this project will cause to the countryside. “First they show that the financial cost of HS2 is higher than they thought it would be. Now we know the same is true of the environmental damage. It’s time for this project to be cancelled so the Government can get on with delivering improvements to our rail network that do make sense.” Ministers have been accused of insensitivity to the risk of environmental damage.
Last year, Justine Greening, transport secretary at the time, suggested “transplanting woodland to an adjacent site” in a letter to another MP. Meanwhile, Archie Norman, the former Conservative shadow transport secretary who is now chairman of ITV, today joins the growing number of critics of the Coalition’s flagship transport project. In the Business section of today’s Sunday Telegraph, Mr Norman writes that the “economics are very unattractive and the risks enormous”. “Since it was first announced, the costs have escalated relentlessly,” the article reads. “It now looks as if HS2 will cost £50billion — nearly £2,000 for every household in Britain for a railway that probably only about one to two per cent of the population will use each year.” The former minister says it is a “delusion” the project will make impoverished parts of the North more affluent. “It would certainly make London more prosperous. It will do nothing for deprived East Manchester and will bypass many of the most needy areas of Britain.” In recent weeks senior figures in the Labour Party who were previously in favour of HS2 have criticised the project. Lord Mandelson, the former business secretary, said the project could prove an “expensive mistake”, while the former chancellor Alistair Darling warned that HS2 would “suck money” out of Britain’s rail budget. Ed Balls, the shadow chancellor, said he was “concerned about rising costs” associated with the scheme, adding that it could not be handed a “blank cheque”.
Adding to the growing mood of uncertainty about HS2, Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, said last week that the case for the project was “still being made”. Although still a supporter of HS2, Mr Cable acknowledged the calculations were “being revisited” and said it had “to meet a standard of cost/benefit analysis which the Treasury seeks”. A Department for Transport spokesman said: “We have no choice but to address the increasing demands on our transport system that Britain will face in the next decade and compete in the global economic race. "A new high speed line linking north and south will be vital, on top of upgrading our existing rail and road network, to making sure we have enough capacity to keep Britain moving in the years ahead.
"We know that while HS2 is in the national interest, it is not possible to build a railway without any effect on the environment. The Government is determined to minimise the environmental impacts that go with a major infrastructure project of this kind and has already committed to planting four million trees along the line. "Where impacts cannot be avoided, HS2 Ltd will seek to relocate protected species to suitable replacement habitats or provide appropriate compensation through habitat creation. “We will continue to look for opportunities to benefit the environment along the way and are going to great lengths to listen to those who are concerned about the environmental effects of the project having already undertaken an unprecedented level of consultation.”
