Hyde Heath Village Society

On the 11 July, Hyde Heath Village Society held a bilateral meeting with a team from HS2.

Bilateral meetings are being run by HS2 to enable communities affected by the building and the running of the high speed railway to discuss the issues and problems that will arise. The goal of these meeting is to get HS2 to take action to mitigate as much as possible the impact of the line on the community.

The key areas dscussed were:

• Mantles Wood tunnel exit and the green cutting from the tunnel exit up to South Heath.
• The Hyde Heath road, which will be the transport route in and out of the site. It’s not wide enough to take passing HGV’s. It needs to be 7.9 metres wide its 5.9 metres.
• Will the cut and fill from the green cutting to taken away along the Hyde Heath road?
• Working hours which could be 24 hours?
• Stopping HGV’s and contractors vehicles coming through the village to the site.

The minutes of the meeting will by uploaded shortly.

Despite the tunnel, Hyde Heath WILL be significantly affected by HS2. In fact, the tunnel will cause major disruption during construction and massive destruction of local ancient woodland. 

For this reason, we encourage our residents to support HS2AA's legal fund for the judicial review concerning the Government’s non-compliance with important environmental legislation to the Court of Appeal.

In order to bring the appeal, HS2AA need to raise £100,000 by the end of May. If you wish to donate or require more information, please visit: www.hs2aa.org/legalfund

HS2 Ltd will be holding a roadshow on 30th May between 12pm and 8pm at Great Missenden Memorial Centre & Buryfield Recreation Ground, Link Road, Great Missenden, Bucks, HP16 9AE.

The event covers the Draft Environmental Statement. As part of this consultation, HS2 Ltd are running a series of events across the Phase One line of route Community Forum Areas.

These events are being held to provide further information about the draft Environmental Statement consultation (and, in certain areas where relevant, our Design Refinement consultation), as well as the opportunity to speak to representatives from HS2 Ltd about any queries you may have about the consultations 

Questions to ask

HHVS have compiled a list of suggested questions for attendees to ask. Click here to view these questions.

Further information

For further information visit the HS2 Ltd site:

http://www.hs2.org.uk/draft-environmental-statement/document-library

and click on links on the left hand side, to find documents relating to this event and the Draft Environmental Statement.

We have compiled a list of questions for residents attending HS2 roadshow to ask.

1) The current EU rules on the maximum lengths of tunnels are being reviewed and will allow long tunnels as of 2014. Why has HS2 not considered this and stopped the tunnel at Mantles Wood when it could be extended much further? This would stop the need for the destruction of the wood and the disruption on the country lanes and road.

By extending the tunnel it would prevent what HS2 describe as “considerable variance with existing character, degrading its integrity” to the landscape in the area of the HH cutting.

2) At the Mantles Wood site the HS2 in its ES statement say there will be 30 to 120 lorry movement a day, which it claims will represent a 30% increase in HGV traffic? How does HS2 calculate that when currently the number of HGV using the road is one an hour based on the HHVS survey?

3) How does HS2 plan to carry out this number of truck movement along the Hyde Heath road safely when the road is used a cyclists, walkers and equestrians when the road is only 5.9 metres wide when an average truck is 2.5 metres wide.

4) Does HS2 plan to upgrade the Hyde Heath road as it is not designed to take heavy traffic?

5) Would it not be safer to keep local traffic and the lorries apart to build a temporary road alongside the Hyde Heath road and have the trucks exit onto the Gt Missenden / Chesham road on a new roundabout?

6) What alternative routes been considered for removing spoil from the tunnel, directly down to the A413, rather up to the “long mile” in Hyde Heath?

7) Can HS2 confirm where the spoil is going to be disposed of?

8) The Hybrid bill will give contractors the right to make changes without consultation, what safeguards have HS2 in place to ensure the contractors abide by agreed mitigation agreements?

9) How many people will be working at the Mantles Wood site?

10) Will Mantles Wood having sleeping accommodation? Will there be any additional sites nearby for worker accommodation?

11) To save time lorry drivers could turn right and drive through the village centre. How will HS2 / contractors prevent this?

12) In the ES statement it states HS2 will have a construction force travel plan. It aim is reduce the number of car journeys, especially sole occupancy car travel. How will this be enforced especially when the contractors are running the contract? Will drivers be fined?

13) First thing in the morning the centre of Hyde Heath is very busy with children walking and getting buses to school.  Contractors travelling to work via the village centre will add to the risk of accidents. Can HS2 / contractors stop workers taking this route?

14) What will be the working hours / week of the Mantles Wood site?

15) What trees to HS2 plan to plant in the mitigation areas?  On average it takes a deciduous tree 20 years to grow to a size before they have any impact.

16) HS2 are no longer carrying out noise monitoring but are using sound waves. Why the change? Is HS2 expecting increase noise levels and that is why it is building noise bunds?

For all the HS2 meeting I have been to and the hours of reading on the subject the whole thing seemed a little distance, so far off it was not really true, that is until I read the HS2 letter to the Central Chilterns Community Forum dated May 2013, under the heading Engineering comments; response:

It was then it struck home this disaster is going to happen and my way of life will be changed. I have walked the long mile many times and in all weathers. Throughout the seasons I watched the hedge rows change from the harshness of winter to the soft greens of early spring. HS2 will change all that.............

But we are having a tunnel, I thought.

That is true, but where the tunnel ends at Mantles Wood, the green cutting starts, which means for Hyde Heath a major construction site and in the long term a permanent service depot with an access road.

Why is Mantles Wood the end of the tunnel? Two reasons, this is written by a layman not an engineer.  Firstly Mantles Wood is the high point on this section of the line from there the ground is level. Secondly and this has an impact on point one, the EU stipulate that tunnels can only be so long. So HS2 had to select a point for a break in its tunnelling works, hence Mantles Wood.

How will this impact upon Hyde Heath?

Well if you look at the map on the web page you will see the close proximity of Mantles Wood to Hyde Heath.

Mantles Wood

Lets deal with Mantles Wood first. Basically this ancient woodland will disappear. In its place will be the tunnel exit, with what is described as a silencer to baffle some of the noise of the trains leaving and entering the tunnel.  Secondly it will be the entering point for all the equipment to dig both the tunnel and the green cutting. Which makes it the exit point for all the waste from the green cutting, I will cover that in more detail later. So there will be a large number of men working at this point of the line. In Mantle Wood HS2 is thinking about building a concrete drainage pond to capture ground water, which if built (and HS2 has not confirmed it one way or other), will be a long term eyesore.

The Long Mile

Returning to the spoil. HS2 will not give the information but based on an engineers experience, trucks will be leaving and entering the site every four minutes. The route out of Mantles Wood on what is currently the forestry track, will be reconstructed as a two lane highway. The trucks will enter Hyde Heath Road just pass Bullbaiters Lane where the five bar gate is currently. The truck will turn left away from Hyde Heath. But the road is only 5.9 metres wide and a dumper truck is 2.5 metres wide. The outcome is Hyde Heath Road will be widened. And of course traffic lights here to allow the trucks to get onto and off the road.

Which will require the hedgerow to be removed. In addition the road is a very busy route for cyclists, walkers and equestrians and to accommodate this, a wider road will be built.

The impact of this will be more cars will use Hyde Heath as a cut through as the A413 will be even more congested due to the huge number of spoil trucks that will both clog the road and slow traffic.

Chesham Road and the A413

On reaching the Great Missenden to Chesham road, the trucks turn left towards Anne Baileys (now owned by HS2). Just past Annie Baileys, the road is being diverted and traffic lights installed while a new road and bridge to be built.

Then the trucks are down to the A413 and towards Amersham. Of course any accident on this stretch of the A413 will mean traffic including the trucks using Hyde Heath, to avoid the blocked A413.

The disused layby on the A413 is going to be the entry point for the tunnelling equipment, so there will be a works site there.

With Mantle Wood and the A413 site Hyde Heath is the meat in the sandwich

What else can we expect?

Speak to the towns near the construction of HS1 and you will be told the period of construction was hell. One councillor said you cannot describe how bad it was.

Firstly increased traffic through the village, caused by construction workers travelling to Mantle Wood and other motorists avoiding the A413.

Dust and noise from the Mantle Wood construction site. This may be a seven day a week site! HS2 will not confirm this, as it will be in the Hybrid bill.

Travelling down the Hyde Heath road, you will be greeted by traffic lights, lorries rushing to and from the site at great speed, as the drivers will be under pressure and mud on the road.

So what is HHVS doing about this?

Firstly we are working closely with HS2AA to fight against the thing being built in the first place.

We are working with other parties such as BCC, CRAG and Woodland Trust to seek the best mitigation solutions. If we cannot stop it, we have to protect our village.

HHVS are having a bilateral meeting with HS2 in June to highlight the issues and problems that HS2 brings with it in the construction phase.

What can you do?

• Help fund the appeal is a key milestone in the fight against HS2. If the HS2AA legal team can get the case referred to Brussels it will delay the project and give more time for people to understand there is no business or financial case for HS2. www.hs2aa.org/legalfund
• Write to Cameron using one of the attached templates and let it be known you are against it. One letter amongst many has a big impact.
• Visit the HS2 Road show on the 30^th May 2013 and voice your objection to the plans. Use the sample questions on this web page (to follow)
• Attend the bilateral meeting in June and let HS2 know what you think.
• Join HHVS so we can keep you up to date with delvelopements.

If you wish to contact us, please use the Contact Us page, or email us via contactus@hhvs.org.uk

Newsnight have recently shown a series of short documentaries on HS2.

These films / articles are available to view online:

What can UK learn from Spanish high speed rail?

A case study of high speed rail between Madrid and Seville which opened in 1992. To view the documentary click here.

HS2 villagers fight for compensation

Newsnight's David Grossman spoke to residents living along the HS2 route who fear their houses will only be sellable at a huge discount. To view the documentary click here.

The court date for the HS2AA appeal is due to be heard on 10th June 2013.

HS2AA is taking its judicial review concerning the Government’s non-compliance with important environmental legislation to the Court of Appeal.

In order to bring the appeal, HS2AA need to raise £100,000. If you wish to donate or require more information, please visit: www.hs2aa.org/legalfund