High Speed Rail (HS2) - stop and rethink!

Ecosystems permanently damaged. Irreplaceable habitats destroyed. Taxpayer's money spent on restoration wasted. Wildlife extinctions at a local level. This could be nature’s fate if the current plans for HS2 continue. 

In the most comprehensive environmental assessment to date we can reveal the sheer scale of potential damage from HS2.  Our report, 'What's the damage' shows that the deep cut HS2 will make across the landscape could stop nature’s recovery in its tracks.

More recently, HS2 Ltd was given formal notice to proceed - a decision we had expected to take a back seat during the current national health crisis when so many services have been disrupted and in light of the risk to nature during breeding season. Wildlife Trusts along the route continue to monitor progress as best they can under the current public health restrictions and we are recording known breaches of licence conditions and impacts to species, sites and habitats as a result of the works. 

It is critical that HS2 Ltd delivers – and improves on – its mitigation and compensation commitments. If you live close to the route and are concerned about any of the current works, complaints can be lodged directly with HS2 Ltd.

HS2 and the environment

Hundreds of important habitats and special wild places are under threat from the government's proposed High Speed 2 (HS2) rail network. Ancient woodland, lakes, meadows and other important habitats are at risk. Yet, there has not been a Strategic Environmental Assessment and the compensation plans being put forward are not good enough.

The Government and HS2 Ltd acknowledge that the route can't be delivered without extreme harm to the natural environment. Furthermore, the deep cut and divisive scar the route will cause along the length of England's habitats pose a genuine barrier to the urgent action required to recover nature and restore landscapes. The current approach to HS2 means that a Nature Recovery Network would be impossible.

The potential damage is too great - especially while we are facing an ecological and climate emergency. We need HS2 Ltd to stop and rethink. 
 

Our history with HS2

Since the route was first announced in 2010, Wildlife Trusts have campaigned to defend wildlife and wild places at risk from the new High Speed train line, trying to secure the best possible outcome for wildlife. The Wildlife Trusts in principle support sustainable transport solutions but current proposals for HS2 come at an unacceptable cost for our natural world, putting the homes of wildlife including barn owls and otters at risk.

The draft Environmental Statement for Phase 2b alone references damage to:

• 12 highly protected areas for nature conservation (known as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI))
• 111 Local Wildlife Sites
• 19 ancient woodlands

These figures do not take into account damage caused in Phase 1 and 2a of the route - nor does it account for other wildlife-rich places without designation, so the real impact is much higher.

Infrastructure projects on this scale have the potential to help deliver the Government's own policies and international commitments aimed to reverse the decline of wildlife and bring about nature's recovery. If properly mapped out they give a unique opportunity to plan development that creates more wild places for wildlife to thrive (see Nature Recovery Networks) - known as a net gain for wildlife.

So far, HS2 Ltd has only pledged to 'no net loss' for wildlife. This does not help to solve the huge declines of 56% of our most-loved plants and animals in recent decades. Proactive steps are needed to be taken to help nature's recovery.

How HS2 is affecting nature and Wildlife Trusts along the route

The proposed route for HS2 will badly damage wild places along its route. Fourteen Wildlife Trusts have campaigned against the development which will devastate many of the wild places that they care for:

Phase 1: London; Hertfordshire & Middlesex; Berks, Bucks and Oxon; Beds, Cambs and Northants; Warwickshire; Birmingham and Black Country; and Staffordshire.

Phase 2: Staffordshire; Cheshire; Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside; Leicestershire and Rutland; Derbyshire; Nottinghamshire; Sheffield and Rotherham; and Yorkshire.

Background to HS2
 

In January 2012, the then Secretary of State for Transport announced that a new high speed rail network in the UK would go ahead, connecting London with Manchester and Leeds, via Birmingham. 

The current timeline for HS2 to be operational is as follows:

• Late 2026 - London to West Midlands in use (known as Phase 1)
• Late 2027 - First passengers on route between West Midlands and Crewe (known as Phase 2a)
• Late 2033 - Crewe to Manchester and West Midlands to Leeds route operational (known as Phase 2b).