For all of the reasons in this section, I am firmly opposed to HS2 and I have been working hard with the various local action groups to make the case against it.
This is just an example of some of the actions I have taken so far, and continue to take:
- I have made it clear to the government that I cannot support HS2 when it comes before Parliament.
- I regularly appear in the local and national media, including the BBC, to make the case against HS2.
- I have written to the Chief Secretary to the Treasury to argue that the nation cannot afford HS2 given the record peacetime budget deficit we inherited from the previous government.
- I have addressed public meetings in Water Orton, Middleton, Coleshill and Lichfield, and will shortly address a similar meeting in Polesworth.
- I have helped to set up Action Groups in a number of the villages affected, and I am working closely with the Action Groups and with the national groups to coordinate our response.
- I brought the Secretary of State for Transport, Philip Hammond, to Coleshill to see for himself the impact HS2 will have locally and to meet representatives of some of the local Action Groups.
- I helped to organise a Lobby Day in Parliament which was addressed by ministers and industry experts, and was attended by a number of local residents, councillors and Action Group representatives. There is a link to a copy of the presentations from that day at the end of the 'national' section above.
- I regularly question ministers in the House of Commons over the impact of different aspects of HS2 on local people, and have spoken out in the House against HS2.
- I have lobbied ministers extensively on the Exceptional Hardship Scheme (an interim compensation scheme) to try to improve the way it operates and communicates with the people trying to access it.
- I have taken up the cases of a number individual constituents who are applying for compensation under the Exceptional Hardship Scheme and I am continuing to support constituents who have specific problems as a result of the blight already caused.
- I have visited the offices of HS2 Ltd in London with members of the Water Orton Action Group to make the direct case for a number of specific route changes around Water Orton that would minimise the impact locally.
- I have helped to arrange a similar meeting in London with representatives of the Middleton Action Group which will take place shortly.
- I am working hard behind the scenes for additional consultation road show locations to be scheduled in North Warwickshire.
- In January I wrote to the Chair of the Transport Select Committee to urge them to hold an investigation into the strategic assumptions behind HS2. I was delighted when they agreed, and that investigation will take place shortly.
- In March I appeared before the Backbench Business Committee alongside two fellow MPs from both Labour and the Conservatives (Geoffrey Robinson and Andrea Leadsom) to urge the committee to allow a full Parliamentary debate in the House of Commons on the principles behind HS2. I am delighted that they have provisionally agreed to schedule a debate for 27 March.
You can see copies of my letters to the Treasury and to the Transport Select Committee here:
5. Letter to the Treasury - 14th September 2010
6. Letter to the Transport Select Committee - 26th January 2011
