19/05/11…..Alarm in the Chilterns over unaccounted for spoil from HS2
THE Chilterns Conservation Board, based near Thame, says it is alarmed to discover that there could be over one million lorry journeys on local roads to remove the spoil excavated from tunnels and cuttings in the Chilterns during the building of the proposed high speed railway.
The Board says: “HS2 Ltd published a figure of 680,000 cubic metres of spoil to be excavated from the Chilterns, but local anti-HS2 groups have discovered the true figure is more like 12 million cubic metres – an error of nearly 18 times.”
Steve Rodrick, Chief Officer of the Chilterns Conservation Board said: ?You can imagine our alarm when this colossal error was unearthed. This could mean a lorry journey on local roads every 26 seconds every working hour every working day for 5 years. That will create immense misery for local communities and motorists. The noise and dust will be truly awful.?
The Board is especially alarmed, it says, that HS2 Ltd could have made such a basic mistake. “It completely undermines the confidence we should have in information published by the Government. It begs the question, What else have they got wrong??
The high speed railway will require a twin bored tunnel of 9.6 kilometres from near the M25 in the Colne Valley to just north of Old Amersham. There will be a shorter tunnel to the east of Little Missenden. There will also be nearly eight kilometres of deep cuttings before it emerges on an embankment and viaduct to cross the Misbourne Valley south of Wendover.
The Board claims that the big difference in figures is due to a number of major errors:
? HS2 Ltd mistakenly based their calculations on a single bored tunnel between the Colne Valley (M25) and Amersham (9.6 kms long). In fact it is a twin bored tunnel.
? HS2 Ltd failed to include the spoil excavated from cuttings.
? HS2 Ltd failed to take into account the bulking up of spoil once excavated, which increases the volume of chalk and clay by up to 1.8 times.
According to Steve Rodrick: ?This is yet another nail in the coffin of claims that high speed rail is a green form of travel. It will cause immense damage to the countryside of England, actually increase carbon emissions and literally concrete over several thousand acres of farmland.?
According to the Chilterns Conservation Board, HS2 Ltd hasn?t provided any information on where they plan to dump such a massive quantity of waste material.
PHOTO: Part of the Chilterns through which HighSpeed2 rail link will pass. For more maps and images visit:
http://www.chilternsaonb.org/hs2/impactonchilterns.html
