15 Nov 2021
To keep 1.5 degree rise in global temp alive it’s clear some things will have to change and one of them is HS2.
When devised over a decade ago, the idea was to reduce journey times to London for business travellers. The environmental impact wasn’t really given much weight; some considered it a political vanity project. In these times of environmental sensitivity, Zoom and home working, HS2 has absolutely no justification.
The project is likely never to recover the carbon from construction. High energy requirements mean anyone transferring to HS2 from the current system will be increasing their carbon footprint. 108 ancient woodlands are impacted, some destroyed, such as the beautiful Winnington wood close to Northwich.
In the news we hear HS2 is being scaled back due to the runaway costs, but a complete rethink of the environmental costs is required before concrete is poured over the green belt of Cheshire.
Geoff Edwards
