27 Jan 2022 to Guardian Group Newspapers
Guardian readers may, or may not, be aware that the Hybrid Bill for the Crewe to Manchester phase of HS2 is still to be deposited in Parliament early in 2022, even though there is now massive doubt about the station at Manchester airport. Our route is not yet officially confirmed.
The real cost of the herculean task of squeezing HS2 through Cheshire’s salt industrial area safely is still unknown but it will be eye- wateringly high for taxpayers. Locals know only too well the time, technical challenge and cost it will take to try to build a railway with a 5mm vertical tolerance over an active salt mine, subsiding salt solutions sink holes, very close to hundreds of brine wells, mineral reserves and nationally significant gas storage caverns.
HS2 Ltd underestimate the environmental, ecological and economic disruption of a long construction programme. The line between King Street roundabout and Ascol Drive with simultaneous realigning of the A556 will cause massive disruption to traffic trying to access Northwich businesses which is also a daily commute for thousands of people on a main commuter arterial route. Businesses will pay a hefty price. In addition to the confusion it is proposed to build an enormous compound right on King Street roundabout, electrical transformers and massive swathes of extra land of 100m width for utility vehicles. Residents will be subjected to years of HGV construction traffic as the diversion route around the A556 realignment will be via Manchester Road and Griffiths Road. This is already a key concern for local residents, who will be dealing with extra vehicle movements and HGV congestion due to traffic ‘feeding’ the new incinerator.
The people in power who make these decisions need to be reminded of just how bad the cost and safety case for HS2 really is here, before they commit us to this white elephant and ask themselves the question ‘if this was my own money would I spend it on HS2’?
Kathy O’Donoghue
Mid Cheshire Against HS2
