Chris Packham’s lawyers are currently
considering a crowdfunded legal challenge.
Extinction Rebellion activists and concerned
residents are undertaking direct action
against the drillers and diggers, particularly
in the Colne Valley, near London, and the
ancient woodland of South Cubbington,
Warwickshire. But environmental
arguments in favour of the line persist.Cleaner living
We are facing a climate crisis and HS2
will provide low-carbon travel. HS2 claims
emissions of 8g of carbon emissions per
person per kilometre – far less than the
67g emitted by cars and 170g by planes.
HS2 will spread far less noise and light
pollution over the landscape than aF
our years ago, in BBC
Wildlife, conservationist
Chris Baines argued that
HS2, the new high-speed
railway linking London with
Birmingham, Manchester
and Leeds, need not be a
wildlife disaster. In fact, Europe’s largest
current infrastructure project could create
a 530km green corridor through lowland
England. This spring, the first shovels – or
more accurately, the first massive drilling
rigs – hit the soil. So what happens next?
What will be the impact on wildlife? Could
HS2 still enhance the natural world?
Most environmental charities, from
the National Trust to Friends of the
Earth, have sounded concern over HS2.new motorway, and will also gobble up
fewer green fields – possessing the same
carrying capacity as a 10-lane motorway
in normal use.
HS2 Ltd has pledged to seek “no
net loss” of biodiversity across the
whole of the route “as far as reasonably
practicable”. This is not as ambitious as the
government’s new principle of “net gain”,
which guides new developments. But HS2
is also providing additional compensation
for the loss of ancient woodlands (which
have been continuously wooded since
1600). According to HS2, 62 ancient
woodlands are directly affected across
the whole project, but 85 per cent of these
woods will remain “intact and untouched”
Woodland: Chris Winsor/Getty; tracks & train: Getty by the railway’s construction.
April 2020 BBC Wildlife 33