Petition demands thatHS2 plan is thrown out

ANTI-HS2 campaigners were joined by Warwick and Leamington MP Chris White in a joint call to scrap the high-speed rail plan this week.

Campaigners along with Mr White and Dan Byles and Andrea Leadsom, Conservative MPs for North Warwickshire and Bedworth and South Northamptonshire respectively, presented a petition to Downing Street which has been signed by more than 108,000 people from across the country.

Mr White, who attended the parliamentary debate on HS2 on Thursday, said: “This petition is a sign of the public’s desire for a full and open debate on High Speed Rail 2.

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“The sheer cost of the project, which could be around £51 million per constituency, necessitates a real discussion on the merits of the scheme based on firm evidence.

“I have made clear my position – I don’t believe High Speed Rail would be good for our community environmentally, socially or economically and I will be continuing to lobby the Government to reconsider this policy.”

Representatives from Stop HS2 demonstrated at Westminster this week and also attended an event held by the Coalition for Access to Justice for the Environment to gain insight into how to legally challenge HS2 based on environmental concerns under the Aarhus Convention.

They also attended a summit entitled HS2 - is it in the country’s interests?.

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Joe Rukin, of Stop HS2, said: ”It’s been a long road and a lot of hard work has been done by a lot of people. We thank them all and everyone who signed up. Their efforts were rewarded when there was finally a debate in Parliament on HS2.”