HS2 have been seeking to remove protestors from a camp at Cash’s Pit in Staffordshire. As part of the action, they are seeking an injunction both against named people and Persons Unknown. While this seems reasonable, they have extended the…
Over the past year nine months the Chiltern Society has been corresponding with the Environment Agency (EA) with regard to the impacts of HS2 tunnelling through the aquifer under the Misbourne. The areas of concern relate to Where the tunnels…
Further to our letter to the Environment Agency on 15 June, we have now received a reply with references to various documents produced by HS2 / Align. This required an extensive review of those documents. This raised a number of…
A group of local environmentalists have formed a company, Misbourne Environmental Protection Ltd with a view to challenge the Environmental Agency’s decision to approve the commencement of tunnelling through the Mid-Chilterns Aquifer, which supplies water to the residents of the…
A petition has been presented to Parliament ‘Stop work on HS2 immediately and hold a new vote to repeal the legislation’. This will be debated on 13th September 2021. We would ask everyone to contact their local MP to ensure that they attend…
Government appears to be getting the jitters about HS2, especially in the North.
The Chiltern Society has been corresponding with the Environment Agency (EA) with regard to the impact of the Chiltern Tunnel on the River Misbourne and the Misbourne aquifer. We have also had the opportunity to review HS2’s papers ‘Chiltern Tunnel…
The Chiltern Society has been corresponding with the Environment Agency (EA) with regard to the impact of the Chiltern Tunnel on the River Misbourne and the Misbourne aquifer. We have also had the opportunity to review HS2’s papers ‘Chiltern Tunnel…
Chiltern Society Statement in response to HS2 announcement of its intention to commence tunnel boring operations beneath the Chilterns AONB The Chiltern Society and its partners, the River Chess Association and Buckinghamshire Berkshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust (BBOWT) are today…
This was established when at the Society’s request, Lord Berkeley asked written questions with regard to this – see link. The answer is concerning. Of the three assessments submitted, two are in draft. We have raised the issue of the…
John Gladwin is unimpressed by HS2’s current performance in the Chilterns. Read John’s article – Chiltern Issue 239 – Spring 2021 here.
Affinity Water has made an application to increase its water abstraction at Watford. This is to ensure that water supply can be maintained if HS2 adversely impacts the water supply in the Misbourne Valley. However by increasing the water abstraction…
Last Friday the Chiltern Society issued a report on the experience of HS2 construction in the AONB, in the eight months following Notice to Proceed. This contains numerous examples of environmental destruction, the lack of community engagement, and persistent un-neighbourly…
Press release from Buckinghamshire Council – 18th January 2021 Martin Tett, Leader of Buckinghamshire Council, has written to the Chairman of the Government’s Transport Select Committee (TSC) about the lack of effective monitoring HS2 Limited does of its works and…
A Petition has been set up calling for the Government to told a Public Vote as to whether to continue with HS2. See link here.
HS2 do it again. Life is hell, if you live where they are building the access road to the Chalfont St Giles Vent Shaft! See our HS2 Photo Diary of before and current images.
HS2 Ltd continue to endanger wildlife. This time water voles in Denham Country Park. Denham Country Park Water Voles Update 10.11.20 Water Vole-wildlife crimes – Denham Country Park, Bucks
HS2 are starting work on taking down trees in Jones Hill Wood. Barbastelle bats have been identified as roosting there. These are a very rare protected species of bat, hence the headline in the Guardian. Link to the article in…
HS2 have launched a consultation seeking views on their proposed design for the Amersham Vent Shaft, to be constructed beside the A404 at the junction with Whielden Lane. At some point it has been transformed from a boring Green box…
The Society has written to Andrew Stephenson MP, Minister for HS2 asking for confirmation that the Chiltern Tunnel design will meet the Operational Safety Requirements. We have engaged with HS2 Ltd over the past 10 years to establish whether the…
Archaeologists working on the HS2 project in Buckinghamshire have made an eerie discovery, unearthing a skeleton believed to be a murder victim from the Iron Age. Other discoveries at the Wellwick Farm site near Wendover span over 4,000 years of…
HS2 announce a pipeline is to be built from the Chalfont St Giles Affinity Water pumping station to Amersham pumping station. This is to be able to treat water affected by turbidity (chalk suspended in water) likely to arise when…
The Rights of Way group have been conducting a long running dispute with HS2 Ltd, and National Grid, regarding the closure of paths GMI/12/1 and GMI/13/3, which run from Great Missenden up to Potter Row. National Grid have been working…
Our volunteers have been working hard and added a whole new HS2 Photo Diary to our website. These photos document the impact of this controversial high speed rail line, recording forever the area pre-construction, the enabling works, and the construction…
We have heard a lot from HS2 on Community Engagement. However this seems to be in theory rather than practice. HS2 has been carrying out Ground Investigation Works alongside the river Misbourne near Shardeloes Lake. There has been no communication…
The Chiltern Society has engaged with HS2 Limited over a considerable period of time with regard to Operational Safety Design of the 16km Chiltern Tunnel. There have been a number of questions raised which HS2 Limited has failed to answer.…
The Chiltern Society is still campaigning against HS2 and its effects on the Chilterns. We have written to the Government to express our views that HS2 should not proceed any further during the Covid-19 situation, given the uncertain impacts on…
The Chiltern Society has been fighting hard against HS2 for over a decade. Last year when an independent review of the project was announced, we were quick to reiterate our longstanding concerns and arguments against the proposals; namely the inevitable…
The Chiltern Society is very disappointed at the Government’s decision to proceed with HS2 in full, and particularly with the section across the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. As a charity supported by 7000 members and hundreds of volunteers…
We’ve sprung into 2020 with determination to make sure our concerns about HS2 are listened to and taken seriously. This week we’ve written to Grant Shapps, Secretary of State for Transport, to outline our arguments against the project once again.…
This week we have written to Douglas Oakervee who is responsible for leading the review that will asses whether the HS2 project should go ahead after all. In our letter, we reiterate our longstanding concerns about HS2 and our arguments…
It has been announced that the government is launching a review of high-speed rail link HS2 – with the aim of reaching a final “go or no-go” decision by the end of the year, the Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has…
When HS2 is finally completed it is envisaged that there will be 18 trains per hour passing through the Chiltern tunnels at up to 200mph with around 1,100 passengers on board. The Society has long campaigned for the tunnel under…
During the last ice age, as a mountain of ice scrunched its way through the Chilterns, creating the valleys and escarpments we have today, the weight of the ice was so heavy it smashed the top layer of chalk rock…
When the construction of HS2 is fully underway in the Chilterns there will be major construction camps throughout the area and tens of thousands of construction lorry journeys for several years. The extra traffic will have a significant impact on…
Local residents’ groups, along with Chiltern Society support, have worked together to establish the website HS2 Watch, an independent group monitoring the progress of the railway’s construction throughout the Chilterns. The HS2 Watch website, provides information, monitors construction issues and…
