'We will fight this dreadful HS2 plan', promises Bill Cash
VETERAN MP Bill Cash has warned a 'war of attrition' is being organised against the Government's planned HS2 link.
He said the battle lines were being drawn both inside Parliament and in the community to stop the controversial high-speed railway which proposes to cut through several peaceful villages in his Stone constituency.
And during a packed public meeting the Tory MP promised he will have no hesitation in opposing his own front bench on the issue.
Mr Cash told 250 protesters at Whitmore Village Hall on Saturday: "This policy was started by Labour and followed up by the Coalition – but I don't always agree with the Coalition.
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"We will not let Whitmore be contaminated by these proposals, which have such a flawed business case. We will fight them."
The proposed route involves a deep cutting carved through part of the picturesque village to send trains into a tunnel under Whitmore Heath.
The MP heard how the day after it was announced, the Department of Health had sent some residents letters saying they proposed to issue compulsory purchase orders on their homes.
But then they received follow-up mail to say they would not be required after all as they were not in the path of the line.
He was also told how some letters had gone to the wrong addresses and worried householders needlessly.
Mr Cash, who has also addressed meetings in Madeley, Swynnerton and Stone, said: "The process is clearly a shambles already. It all came like a bolt out of the blue. How they managed to keep it secret is astonishing.
"The blight on homes this will cause is dreadful and the compensation offers woefully inadequate.
"There is absolutely no benefit for this part of Staffordshire from this proposal.
"All MPs all along the route of HS2 are involved in the war of attrition to oppose it. And every single person living beside the line has a right to petition Parliament."
Joe Rukin, co-ordinator of the national StopHS2 campaign, said: "We are not NIMBYs who have no regard for the national interest. The fact is this is no more than a vanity project which will destroy neighbourhoods, suck jobs down to London and see unemployment rise in cities not connected to the link."
The village has formed an action group to join the other 80 already created across the country to fight the plan.
Around 50 local authorities have also voiced their opposition.
Chris Dawes, who lives directly above the proposed tunnel, said: "We must flat-out challenge the justification for this.
"But if it goes ahead we need to mitigate its effects to ensure this area is still liveable in."
2 Comments
by hs2myths
Tuesday, February 12 2013, 11:26PM
“the m1 and m6 and a14 and existing main railway lines are also in the euro tens network of strategically important current and future transport links. the EIB provides investment funds towrads the cost of prjects where agreed such as the nottingham tram network. is not being forced on the uk by the e.u.. high speed rail is supported by the 3 major parties in the uk and was supported by ukip until they cynically dropped their support for it to try to steal votes from the tories. so if you are against hs2 you can blame uk not eu politicians (apart from farage that is !)
bill cash when he ran for office in the last election knew that high speed rail was on the agenda but didnt know the exact route. now he finds it will run where he lives his position changes. now as a local mp it is right that he stands up for his constituents but not right that he tries to pretend that hs2 is anything but official tory policy unchanged from when he was elected.
In the Netherlands of which Holland is a region, high speed thalys trains are running at 300kph between amsterdam and brussels and paris. theses were held up by the delay in fitting the new signalling equipment that the new line, which was ready for service, uses.. The lower but still fast 140 mph local expresses have caused the problem as the trainsets were late being completed and have proven to be faulty in service. no £25 billion bailout has occurred.
I support hs2 and make no bones about it. I understand why some are against hs2 but i believe some basic research would have shown that what stephen is saying is incorrect. this is sadly very typical of anti-hs2 responses.”
by stephennash
Tuesday, February 12 2013, 1:34AM
“Did you know HS2 is part of the Trans-European Network, Corridor 2, running from Warsaw via Berlin and Amsterdam/Rotterdam to Folkestone and thence to the Midlands. Google "TEN-T Corridor 2" or copy and paste http://tinyurl.com/c7woyon
Cameron didn't mention that when he was talking it up, did he?
In Holland the High Speed Rail between Rotterdam and Breda has been a complete flop - no-one is using it because it's twice as expensive and you have to buy tickets in advance. It has now had to be bailed out to the tune of £25billion.”