Tag: HS2

HS2 to destroy Jones Hill Wood

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Back in October last year we hosted a guest post written by Kevin Hand, an ecologist involved with the important discovery of a roost of one of Britains rarest bat species, the (western) Barbastelle, at Jones Hill Wood (see – Barbastelles, Jones Hill Woods, and HS2). Listed as Vulnerable to extinction in Great Britain in the first Red List for Mammals (published in August 2020) the Barbastelle is known from very few sites and has a very high level of legal protection. Despite the laws protecting the species, the wood was scheduled to be flattened to make way for a railway by contractors working for HS2. Public opinion is firmly against the destruction of what has been dubbed ‘Roald Dahl’s Woods’ but six months later it’s just been announced by HS2 Rebellion that High Court Judge Mr Justice Holgate has refused permission for Mark Keir (representing the Jones Hill Wood Earth protectors) to apply for judicial review and has lifted the injunction which had been placed to suspend the felling of Jones Hill Wood until a full legal case was heard. The trees will come down…

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Guest Post | Kevin Hand: Barbastelles, Jones Hill Woods, and HS2

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“By chance I found myself recently at a Stop HS2 camp at Denham Country Park, in the beautiful Colne Valley, on the fringes of London not far from Heathrow. I had planned a day out to catch up with a friend and he suggested we visit. We were warmly welcomed and it was quickly apparent that as a trained and experienced ecologist here was something practical I could do to help our wildlife, and to help some very inspiring young people. I set up a training session on monitoring protected species, and we were all delighted when we found clear evidence of water voles grazing on the edges of the chalk streams…but tinged with regret that these same streams were to be deeply affected by developments associated with the vast HS2 project.” Guest post by Kevin Hand

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HS2 – you can’t put a price on that…

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The UK’s proposed High Speed Railway Two (HS2) will. proponents say, shave a few minutes off journey times between London and ‘the North’, lower carbon emissions, and is vital to the economy. But costs are spiralling, writes Charlie Moores, and it will cause irreperable damage to important wildlife-rich habitats. Can anyone put a price on that?

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