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Warning: ‘this is your last chance, stop HS2 or end up in court’
A FINAL call has been issued to ministers warning that they can expect legal action if they remain on-board with the HS2 plans.
The formal warning-letter was sent by a group of 18 councils which have pledged over £1 million of taxpayers’ money to an anti-HS2 fighting fund.
Meanwhile HS2 Ltd has confirmed it will pay each landowner along the route £1,000 to survey their land. The Stop HS2 campaign group is urging those who receive the money to donate it to the fighting fund.
Mart Tett, leader of Bucks County Council and chairman of the 51m group of authorities opposing the plans, said: “We are taking this stance with regret.
“We would far rather that the government had listened to the people of this country who have decisively rejected this massively expensive project and instead opted for the far better, cheaper and more quickly delivered alternative put forward by 51m.”
Transport Secretary Justine Greening gave the go-ahead for the high-speed plans on January 10. Since then, HS2 Ltd has agreed to pay landowners £1,000 for officials to carry out environmental impact assessments in areas that will be affected. Alison Munro, chief executive of HS2 Ltd, said: “The ecology surveys will initially identify plants, animals and habitats, then, if necessary, HS2 Ltd will carry out further detailed investigation for specific species.
“This could include collating bird numbers and their movements, badger monitoring, reptile surveys and studies of dormice.
“As the project progresses the company’s engineers and environmental specialists will also investigate ground condition and physical features and take measurements.”
Harry Cotterell, of the county Land and Business Association, said: “We recognise that many of our members would rather HS2 was dropped, but now it is confirmed we owe them a duty of care to ensure the work is carried out with as little damage and loss as is possible.”
Penny Gaines, of Quainton, social media director of the Stop HS2 national campaign group, said: “Some landowners may wish to support our campaign and a judicial review by donating a proportion of that money.
“If they wanted to donate the whole lot they could ask HS2 Ltd to make the cheque payable to Stop HS2.”
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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Comments
There are 5 comments to this article
Page 1 of 1
downbutnotout
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 10:45 AMThis is getting boring now. Not to mention expensive! JUST ACCEPT THAT IT IS GOING TO HAPPEN WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT!!
Coolidge
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 08:28 PM"Warning: Stop HS2 or we'll waste hundreds of thousands of pounds of tax-payers money in a legal challenge that has not the remotest chance of succeding" What a monumental idiot Martin Tett truly is.
ianbartlett
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 03:04 PMLet's ask Tett and his other 51M friends to stump up the money for a judicial review from their own pockets instead of raiding the Council Tax piggy bank. I might, just might, then believe that they think they have a winnable case and aren't just enjoying a brief spell in the limelight using our money.
ianbartlett
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 02:53 PMI think it's our last chance to stop this egotistical buffoon from wasting our Council Tax money on the vanity project that is 51M. There is no chance of stopping HS2 and, at a time when local authority budgets are tight and economies are being made all round, this is an astounding waste. Strikes me that Tett is addicted to OUR money and has no trouble finding ways to spend it on lost causes. HS2 will not draw sigificant funds until construction starts in 2017 so please, StopHS2 members, do not tell me that what Tett is spending is 'as nothing to the cost of HS2' because you are comparing apples with oranges.
Windsorian
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 02:22 PMI somehow I do not think that the DfT will be quaking in their boots, on the basis of threats from Cllr Tett. Anyway the so called 51M group is a world apart from the 2M (later 5M) group that opposed R3 at Heathrow - the latter group represented the millions of people directly affected by aircraft noise. While the 51M group is about how much money local authorities could claim spend if the cost of HS2 was distributed to them. I hope that Penny lets us all know how many landowners support her appeal for the £1,000 payments to be donated towards the cost of a judicial review. Knowing that many farmers are greedy Tories, I suspect they will quietly trouser the money.
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