Now stop false HS2 myths in their tracks and back high-speed rail

PROFESSOR J A Double (The Yorkshire Post, April 25) seems to want, like many others, to perpetuate the myth that HS2 is all about speed by stating that “at best, (it) may only save a few elite travellers some 30 minutes on a journey from Leeds to London”.

It is nothing of the sort. It is all about increased capacity and connectivity. That small time saving is an incidental benefit. The trouble is that there are other myths about HS2 that are not being properly challenged.

We are told that if HS2 were to be cancelled then the budget could be better spent on other projects. Wrong. HS2 is to be funded from specific borrowing – there is no pile of money that could be used for anything else.

We are told that there will be a massive loss of ancient woodland.

This loss, for the entire route, is expected to be 58 hectares. Consider that the emerging Lower Thames motorway crossing of 14 miles will take 54 hectares.

The whole HS2 route will have an impact of just 0.01 per cent of our ancient woodlands – that’s just one ten-thousandth of all the UK’s ancient woodland.

Why not just upgrade the existing line at a lesser cost? Apart from this not being costed, when it is thoroughly investigated it is clear that this would be hugely disruptive, and could close parts of our inter-city network every weekend for 30 years.

Some ask why Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) cannot be pursued instead. I am given to understand that NPR is 100 per cent dependent on using HS2 infrastructure.

The only way forward to really benefit future generations is to fully complete HS2 to release massive capacity benefits to enable myriad new journeys and for freight services. There is no other sensible way to achieve what is necessary.

From: Paul Muller, Sandal, Wakefield.

THE one and only thing that coronavirus and the lockdown is showing us is how clean the air has become now that there is 
less traffic on the roads. 
This could well be the way to solve the climate change problem.

Only one small car per family. Each car to have a small high- powered petrol engine. Improve public transport so that all people can get to and from their place of work easily.

We must develop many small nuclear power stations throughout the UK because, once they are running, they do not produce any carbon dioxide to cause climate change.

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James Mitchinson

Editor