31-July-2016

Opposition

While efforts to mitigate the effects of HS2 are an important activity, particularly at this stage of the project, cancellation is still the best form of mitigation.

Legal

Legal challenges to the project centre on the lack of a Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment, which (had it been conducted) would have compared the chosen route with other alternatives - and should have revealed the problems associated with disposal of waste material in the AONB, among other things. The (archaic) Hybrid Bill procedure was adopted in order to avoid undertaking a SEA, even though this breaches the requirements of the Aarhus convention, which the UK has signed.

The case for performing a SEA was taken as far as the UK supreme court, where it was rejected. However, the Aarhus compliance committee recently ruled that the UK government had a case to answer, and this is being actively pursued - see the HS2AA site for further details.

Political

The campaign against HS2 is carried out overtly - by press advertising and being present at party conferences, and also by a great deal of lobbying activity which is more effectively carried out without great publicity.

This activity is backed up with signs and banners along the route, and by demonstrations, whenever a suitable opportunity arises

Tour of Britain - demo

Protest at the Tour of Britain

Action Groups

Form a group now ! Here are some hints from the 2013 (Staffs) conference -

Help !

These activities are not cheap, particularly where lawyers are involved. Support your local action group, so that we can maintain the pressure against HS2 in the run up to the 2015 election and beyond !