Campaigners train for HS2 showdown

There's been five years of protests against HS2

And now that the full scale of the project has sunk in, campaigners are working harder than ever with their attempts to stop the high speed rail link.

On Monday night affected residents from the area around Steeple Claydon met to discuss how to work together to mitigate the damage posed by the line.

Martin Tett, leader of Bucks County Council spoke at the meeting, and said that residents in that area were the most badly affected in the county.

He said: “We want to involve everyone, and ask them what sort of mitigation they want and how we should move forward. We have to work together.

“Steeple Claydon is really badly affected by HS2, it would also be the site of a the spoli heap and the incinerator so you could have a more impacted place.

“We are working with all of the major organisations, we have been very involved in the campaign to get the best mitigation for the impact of HS2.”

And on Saturday residents affected by the Wendover leg of the project will meet for a training session.

The special session, at Halton Village Hall, will be run by Wendover Parish Council, Wendover HS2, The Wendover Society and Halton Parish Council. Petitioners who will present their case that the upcoming HS2 select committee hearings at Westminster, will have the opportunity to meet others who will be taking part, and discuss a plan of action.

Mike Beard, chairman of the Wendover Society, said: “This meeting is a start up for the people who are going to be called by the select committee.

“That is looking like it is going to be in the summer now, possibly even early September.

“We have have set this up to give people some ideas about what to expect, the better prepared people are for going to the House of Commons the better the outcome will be. We also want to make make sure that we are working together, to make sure that people who are living in the same street are talking to each other about what they are going to say and things like that. The main thing we are trying to get is for the whole line to go underground right through the area of natural beauty.”