13 Comments »

1. One area to seriously look at is the planned HS2 High Speed Rail line. The business and environmental case for this project just does not stack up under scrutiny and the £16Bn expenditure could be better invested in improving the existing rail infrastructure.

   Comment by Bernie Douglas — 9 Sep 2010 on 11:06 am | Link

2. In addition to a failure to meet reasonable business and environmental criteria, the most important of which is its permanent and deleterious effect on the AONB, the information seen to date fails to make economic sense or justify best value for scarce resouurces. The other most serious failing of the project is its geological impact on water resources as it will adversely affect the delicate balance of chalk which forms the aquifers which feeds the wells and the water supply. please see

   http://cholesbury.com/documents/hccpsgeology2003.pdf

   as an authoritive source on this subject.

   Comment by Ray Challinor — 9 Sep 2010 on 12:15 pm | Link

3. I can’t believe that this Coalition listening Government, which has been left the unenviable task of balancing the books following the mess the last lot left us in, is ringfencing this HS2 train set folly. They have no mandate to spend £25,000,000,000, the most ever spent on a single project in the UK, on a dodgy business case based on….. madly optimistic demand forecasts (railways have previous on this count)…..A Carbon generating scheme (at best neutral even according to HS2) …..Rediculous benefit calculations (time on trains is apparently totally wasted and all the business me earn an average of £70k pa!!) and no consideration given to the alternatives
   Why is non of this subject to scrutiny? Is it because those who wrote the recommendation are the ones pitching for the contracts? What is the Goverment motivation, whiel slashing public services. What would the people of Birminham prefer £25bn being spent on local infrastructure, Job Creation, Hospitals, Care Homes and Schools or getting to London 30 minutes faster?

   Comment by Anthony Bobroff — 9 Sep 2010 on 2:03 pm | Link

4. I implore the coalition government to see sense and scrap the High Speed Rail project – HS2 – now.
   If you don’t, you are committing the country to spend £ 1.2 billion this parliament alone on a White Elephant, which is bad enough, but doing so at a time when drastic cuts are being forced on the whole country is, frankly, obscene.

   There are viable alternatives to improve rail transport systems quicker and at hugely lower cost.

   The true “tough decision” is to scrap HS2 now, save the country the huge associated expense, and divert efforts to the less sexy, but far more sensible alternatives.

   HS2 is flawed. The business case supporting HS2 does not stack up and neither does the environmental case. The country cannot afford it.

   Make the right choice – end this HS2 disaster now.

   Comment by Rupert Broome — 9 Sep 2010 on 4:41 pm | Link

5. I do not envy this co-alition Gov’t task of clearing the mess left by Labour but they risk compounding Labour’s folly if they persist with that discredited Gov’ts plans for HS2. The capital cost is staggering at £25,000,000,000 and the NBR is highly suspect when viewed against the heroic passenger demand forecast increases of 247%. We have seen very recently the incompetent forecasts of HS1 where passenger numbers are not even reaching base level forecasts.And to then include HS2 under the sustainability banner beggars belief when even HS2 Ltd says it will at best be carbon neutral.Cancel this future ‘white elephant’ before it is too late for the country and the co-alition Gov’t.

   Comment by Graham Long — 9 Sep 2010 on 5:39 pm | Link

6. The HS2 project makes no economic sense whatsoever and must be the subject of serious review.The passenger forecasts are totally unrealistic, pricing proposals will not compete against existing rail or airlines and the stated benefits are quite frankly a joke. The fact that a Government saddled with such financial difficulties could consider wasting billions of pounds on this project puts at risk its credibility and reputation.

   Comment by S Copley — 9 Sep 2010 on 9:11 pm | Link

7. I have heard it said that the HS2 project “cannot be cancelled” because cancellation would waste the £9 million spent on studies. However, the £9 million is less than one two thousandths of the capital required.

   It is as though someone believes that because they had spent one pound researching a £2,000 holiday they should pay for it regardless of its horrors. In the case of HS2 the horror is that the loss will be in the tens of billions of pounds.

   For a summary of the project and the weaknesses of the ecomomic analysis see our web site.

   Comment by Paul Withrington — 9 Sep 2010 on 9:57 pm | Link

8. A business case for the HS2 is none existant as far as I can see. Whilst we must, apparently, accept cuts in our services we are also told we must welcome expenditure on such a scale, readily.
   We are told that we shall be in a position to afford this in 5years time, but surely if the economy is to be in such a good state at that time these monies will be required to replenish our services!
   Recovery of our economy is obviously essential and we must all “pull our weight” but it is very difficult for people to cope with the “farce” of this nonsensical project.

   Comment by S. Archer — 10 Sep 2010 on 10:16 am | Link

9. A business case for the HS2 is nonexistant as far as I can see. Whilst we must, apparently, accept cuts in our services we are also told we must welcome expenditure on such a scale, readily.
   We are told that we shall be in a position to afford this in 5 years time, but surely if the economy is to be in such a good state at that time these monies will be required to replenish our services.
   Recovery of our economy is obviously essential and we must all “pull together” but it is very difficult for people to cope with the “farce” of this nonsensical project.

   Comment by S. Archer — 10 Sep 2010 on 11:26 am | Link

10. Build HS2 ASAP. Capacity on our Railways is reaching maximum at peak times, the railways now attract ever increasing numbers of users year on year in this country and worldwide thanks to much better investment. More roads are not the answer as oil declines and todays oil burning transport reaches their ‘swan song’. Much greener forms of energy production planned in the UK over the next 50 years will help to power HS2 and therefore vastly offset what is already a better and greener mode of transport than any alternative, despite more energy required at higher speeds. Next generation High Speed Trains will be even more power friendly anyway as the ‘Tech’ improves all the time. Latest independent ‘Business Case’ reports for Greengauge 21 and British Chambers, state and conclude HS2 have understated the business case with much higher cost/benefit ratio.

    Comment by David — 10 Sep 2010 on 1:27 pm | Link

11. With limited funds available we need to focus spending on areas delivering greatest benefits. HS2 does not reduce Co2 emissions. According to HS2 it is broadly neutral. 360km/hr trains use twice the power of 200km/hr trains. Cancel HS2 and invest in DfT Rail Package 2 plus extra Chiltern Line capacity saving capital and providing a greener solution.

    Comment by M Neal — 10 Sep 2010 on 3:35 pm | Link

12. Please do not let political expediency get in the way of sound economics. Please review the HS2 project carefully and apply proper scrutiny to both the economic and environmental business case. As a capital project this does not stack up. It is the “Concorde” of our time.

    Comment by John Ford — 11 Sep 2010 on 12:33 pm | Link

13. This HS2 project will be a national disaster and white elephant if allowed to go ahead. It beggars belief that the Conservative coalition have fallen in behind the previous governments last minute desperate attempt to give Lord Adonis a toy railway to play with, never mind endorsing the desecration of one of our most beautiful bits of countryside so close to the capital – the Chilterns AONB. I for one will never vote Conservative again if this is not scrapped – indeed I think the Tories will find that most loyal voters in Buckinghamshire and the counties northwards will vote with their feet and divert their party funding too. So much for democracy, please see sense and spend the money on projects that everyone in this country can benefit from.

    Comment by paul francis — 27 Sep 2010 on 8:34 pm | Link

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