HS2 Great Missenden works to start in October with inevitable 'distruption and delay'

They wrote:

"Buckinghamshire County Council has been fighting against HS2 for 10 years and the new Prime Minister has said he will at least review the project in the coming weeks.

"However, despite a Council resolution in April asking HS2 Ltd to halt all early works in the county until a decision is made on the scheme, they continue to press ahead.

"So far the early works have been fairly low impact, however in October and November road works around Great Missenden are inevitably going to cause some disruption and delay."

The County Council has been working closely for many months with Great Missenden Parish Council, HS2 Ltd and its contractors to ensure that mitigation road works, such as - road widening in Frith Hill and Link Road - cause the least disruption as possible to local people, businesses and the travelling public, and that they are as safe as possible.

Drivers along the A413 may have already noticed works off the roundabout opposite Link Road, to construct a haul road that will lead to the HS2 Chilterns Tunnel North Portal.

BCC explained what was going on:

"This haul road will open up access to the ‘trace’ line of the railway and mean that as much HS2 construction traffic as possible can be kept off of public roads.

"Local County Councillor Peter Martin together with Great Missenden Parish Council and Buckinghamshire County Council pressed HS2 Ltd hard for night working for all the works to minimise the impact on residents, local businesses and commuters.

"However, some noisier works will have to be undertaken during the day and all the work will be phased."

The mitigation works at Frith Hill and Link Road, due to start on Monday 7 October, will help with congestion that could be caused by extra lorries along the A413, once the main construction work begins at the Chilterns Tunnel North Portal.

Loss of parking along Link Road is to be replaced elsewhere in the village by the Parish Council, which is currently looking at locations.

The County Council has also requested advance warning signs along the A413 and there will be temporary traffic signals at the Chiltern Hospital and Aylesbury Road junctions if required to ease congestion and provide safer access.

The works will continue for around 18 weeks, with a short break over the Christmas period.

Mark Shaw, Deputy Leader and Transport Cabinet Member, said: "While we, as an authority, have stood against HS2 all along, we campaigned for the best possible mitigation and, as the highways authority, we'll be monitoring this work very closely to minimise disruption for our residents and businesses."

BCC added: "We've been against HS2 all along, but we're the highways authority and we are monitoring HS2's mitigation works very closely to ensure disruption is minimised."

Any queries should be directed to the HS2 Helpdesk at [email protected] or Freephone 08081 434 434.