Editor's column: We won't stop standing with local people affected by HS2

This week I had the absolute pleasure of speaking with young Timothy, the passionate sailor from Watermead who has become the youngest person ever to sail solo around Britain.
HS2 campaigners including the Mayor of Aylesbury in Fairford Leys this weekHS2 campaigners including the Mayor of Aylesbury in Fairford Leys this week
HS2 campaigners including the Mayor of Aylesbury in Fairford Leys this week

That was no mean feat either, not least because the schoolboy missed out on training due to the pandemic, and only got to sail in his boat solo for the first time the day before the voyage.

This pandemic has been really hard, but I think Timothy is a shining example of how the world hasn’t really stopped turning when it comes to human spirit.

The same can be said in many ways for the people who came out to have their voices heard last week in the fight against HS2.

Fairford Leys protest co-organiser David Stopps says that he doesn’t think the people of Aylesbury Vale really appreciate just how difficult it is going to get once work starts in earnest, and

I am minded to agree with him.

Yes (as one letter writer this week kindly pointed out) HS2 is a large scale and arguably impressive construction endeavour.

But it is also no longer needed in an age where more people than ever are working from home, and will destroy our natural world, homes and businesses here in Bucks.

So we stand with campaigners, and we stand with the affected, we won’t stop challenging the scheme.