Sponsored by
‘People are not alone. The fight goes on’
Buckingham HS2 protest.Jeremy Quinn. 100930M-C181
THE region’s Tories are not going to give up in the fight against HS2, says the chairman of the Buckingham Conservative Association, writes Hannah Richardson.
Jeremy Quin, from Quainton, has been active in the Stop HS2 campaign since the high-speed rail link was first announced, and convened the first public meeting to oppose the scheme in March 2010.
He said he was disappointed by Transport Secretary Justine Greening’s announcement last week that the government was determined to press ahead with the scheme, which would cut a swathe through the local countryside.
But he told the Advertiser local Conservatives are not prepared to toe the party line on the issue.
He said: “I’m not going to keep my head down. Conservatives locally are going to fight this.
“We’re absolutely determined this doesn’t go ahead.”
His position is shared by neighbouring Conservative Associations, including the South Northants group, the Milton Keynes group and the Bucks and Oxon area group, chaired by Bucks County Councillor Patricia Birchley.
This week, Mr Quin has written to all his members to reassure them the association’s opposition to HS2 remains “robust and determined”.
His letter states: “While not necessarily a surprise, it is of course a great disappointment to us all that the government seems determined to proceed.
“However, if anyone thinks that, post this announcement, we’ll quietly give up, they had better think again.”
Mr Quin, who was born in Bucks, is also chairman of The Countryside Alliance Foundation, a charity that focuses on getting disadvantaged schoolchildren out into the countryside.
And he is adamant HS2 is not just of significance to the local villages that are directly affected.
“The countryside is a national asset,” he said. “If it goes ahead, it will have a permanent effect on the countryside that will affect everyone.”
As a former senior corporate financial advisor to Alistair Darling at HM Treasury, Mr Quin is better placed than most to examine the business case for HS2. And he says it doesn’t stack up.
“There is a mistaken view this is going to be economically positive,” he said.
And he said the Department of Transport has itself rated the scheme a “low value for money” proposition.
“And that’s before you’ve worked out the cost overruns,” he added. “The history of every single infrastructure project has suggested there will be cost overruns.”
He said it was extraordinary the government was committing to a project that has been a financial disaster in some other European countries, especially in the current financial climate.
He believes the money could be better spent upgrading the existing rail network.
He said: “Conservatives are about not mending things unless they’re broke. They are about getting your money’s worth at every step.”
And he pointed to news this week that the coalition government was likely to announce a consultation on a new airport for London.
“If you’re about to launch a consultation on a vast new transport infrastructure of that nature, it would seem more appropriate to have a fully joined-up transport strategy,” he said.
Mr Quin said local Conservatives will continue to campaign against HS2.
“There’s a quiet and steely determination here,” he said. “We’re determined we’ve got the right arguments and we remain adamantly opposed to HS2.
“It’s not a done deal till they’ve got the money and start spending it.
“Within the Conservative Party there are numerous opportunities for members to meet and influence Members of Parliament and ministers, and we’ve been assiduous in pursuing those opportunities.
“There are significant levels of concern and disquiet in the Conservative Party, not just locally, which we wish to continue to reinforce.
“There is a very strong case against HS2 and it needs to continue to be pushed.
“It may well be the case that councils along the line look to judicial review. If they do, I’m sure they’ll have the support of the people they represent.
“The third runway at Heathrow was eventually killed off by a combination of legal challenge and loss of political will.”
“This is going to take months, maybe years, to fight, but we’ve got public opinion on our side on a national level.
“When people think what they’d rather spend £50 million per constituency on, it’s very clear they’ve got other priorities.
“I believe there will be a Conservative or Conservative-led government after 2015. It’s important that people know the Conservative Party locally will continue to fight the coalition government nationally to convince them this is the wrong way to spend this money.
“People need to know they’re not alone. We will continue to fight this. We’ve got plenty of time and plenty of ammunition on our hands and the fight goes on.”
“This is not the end of the campaign against HS2. This is not even the end of the beginning.”
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Buckingham
Monday 28 May 2012
Today
Light showers
Temperature: 12 C to 26 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 11 C to 19 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: North east
Comments
There are 18 comments to this article
Page 1 of 2
ToBeFair
Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 09:58 PMThis chap Jeremy Quinn supported John Bercow MP in the General Election in 2010, he should ask Mr Bercow to make a speech in Parliament.......opps forgot he cannot stand up in parliament against HS2, the Buckingham constituents have no say!
JR
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 06:24 PMBarryBob. Sorry, but the very fact that you are against HS2 makes you a NIMBY. Some people wouldn't care if you lived in the antipodes, saying no to HS2 makes you a NIMBY in their eyes (as it seems to be the only real argument they have in favour of the project.
BarryBob
Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 11:15 PMFirstly I would like to point out that I do not live near the proposed route of HS2 and so therefore cannot simply be palmed off as a NIMBY. I completed the public consultation and I am categorically against this vanity project. When I see the Government slashing jobs and public services and then at the same time giving the green light to waste over £30 + billion of taxpayers money it makes me feel sick. Yes our trains are overcrowded but improvements to our exisitng rail networks would cost a fraction of the price and be delivered a lot quicker. HS1 has never met the passenger numbers that it was predicted and has had more taxpayers money pumped into since it was built and cut services in 2010. I hardly call this a success and definitely not a mistake we want to repeat. There have been many articles recently about HS2 since the decision to go ahead, on the internet, tv and newspapers and in forums and I have yet to see anything positive written about it. Everybody keeps coming up with the same conclusion, the business case just doesn't add up, we cannot afford it and really to save just 30 mintues off a journey it is not worth destroying our countryside for. Recently the high speed rail line in the Netherlands had to be bailed out by the Government as it was making huge losses daily and it has only been running for 2 years. The line is very similar in length to HS2 but cost a fraction of the price as less tunnels etc were needed. The people of Netherlands were spun the same stories as we have been told about the huge number of jobs that would be created and vast amount of passengers. Of course the jobs have never materialised and the trains have been running 80% empty as people continue to use the cheaper existing rail networks. Search the net, there are plenty of articles about it. As for the comment, 'Just get used to it - the decision to proceed with HS2 has been taken,' I say people will not just give in and the Governement has a huge fight on their hands. Its not a case of if there will be legal cases brought against this, its a case of how many. This will inevitably slow the whole process down and will most likely never happen.
JR
Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 10:42 PMPadav, what planet am I on? - the planet reality, as opposed to your planet 'never never land'. What are you talking about "HS1 jibe"? HS1 isn't even running at 50% capacity, it is running at a loss, a huge loss.
JR
Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 10:37 PMhttp:www.bbc.co.uknewsbusiness-16698293 Government debt rises to a record £1tn - that's one trillion pounds. So hey, let's go ahead with this vanity project, after all, what's another £32billion?
Padav
Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 09:14 PM@JR - so the only business model you would accept if is the line is sold for a hard cash sum equivalent to its construction cost - what planet are you living on because it's clearly not the real one most of us reside in? Here we see the false target carefully crafted to create a picture of failure and justify the bogus demands of the anti-HS2 brigade - rail infrastructure investment doesn't follow those economic models and never has - but then you know that already so you just carry on with the same mendacious rhetoric to distort public opinion - I'm intrigued by the HS1 making a loss jibe - how do you work that one out? Just as well HS1 is not at FULL (to quote you) capacity already or we'd have to build another HS1 alongside to accomodate the extra traffic planned for the coming decades. Just get used to it - the decision to proceed with HS2 has been taken - the only way to stop it now is to frustrate the passage of the Hybrid Bill and as I've pointed out (but you aren't taking any notice) the numbers (in the House of Commons) are stacked against your cause - finally I know you'll just ignore this fact like you do with anything else related to this topic that doesn't suit your argument but HS1, in addition to the £2.1bn hard cash sum has already delivered £17.6bn of proven measurable monetary return, so UK plc is already well ahead of the game in terms of RoI ratios
Aylesbury Duck
Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 01:45 PMSo "THE region’s Tories are not going to give up in the fight against HS2" ...................all except David Lidington, who has refused to say he will vote against it. ......... How long before the party deselect him as he is no longer representing the interests of his constituents?
JR
Monday, January 23, 2012 at 11:05 PM- if we build it, they will come - A very similar argument was put forward as the case for HS1 but 'they' are not coming, HS1 is operating at a loss, running at well below capacity. And BTW, I know a 30 year concession was bought by a couple of Canadian groups for £2.1billion, the project cost £5.8billion - therefore, we are still staring into a £3.7billion black hole of debt. We might still own land & stock but at the end of the day, we are still £3.7billion down
Padav
Monday, January 23, 2012 at 10:37 PM@algernon1234, amongst these tens of thousands of negative responses to the current HS2 proposals, what proportion came from addresses within, let's say 2500m of the proposed line. Unfortunately the analysis of responses has not been categorized by post code origin but it would be very interesting to see that data presented. Of course the overwhelming number of responses to the consulation were negative - those who will benefit from the construction of HS2, numbering millions, aren't interested at this juncture, ten to fifteen years before the first train will run - in fact some of them aren't even born yet - but in decades to come when they are travelling on a High Speed Service, they will understand and be thankful for the foresight of those who made it possible. You demonstrate a poor grasp of how a Parliamentary Democracy functions - just because the communities impacted by proximity to the new line have been galvanised by smart campaign messages and selectively misleading information does not mean that the narrow interests of a relatively tiny minority should overwhelm the wider national interests of the many (millions) who will potentially benefit in future decades. Govts. sometimes have to take tough and unpopular (locally) decisions to deliver benefits for the wider national community - HS2 is a classic example in this genre.
Padav
Monday, January 23, 2012 at 10:24 PM@RGM - well that's where I beg to differ and why I strongly support HS2 as the first stage in connecting the rest of the UK into a European High Speed Rail network (a benefit London and the South East already enjoys, of course!). You say that HS2 won't bring Europe (I can only presume you mean the European mainland because believe it or not both you and I are already in Europe, look in your Atlas!) any nearer but from day one of HS2 phase 1 operation, direct services between Manchester and Birmingham to near European mainland destinations; Paris and Brussels being the most obvious candidates, will operate - do those services operate now, NO! - so HS2 will bring Europe closer - by the time both phases of HS2 come into operation, dedicated High Speed lines as far south as Seville and Naples will be in-situ - the Lille Europe hub will be just 2.5 hours platform to platform - if that isn't an example of closer to Europe, I don't know what is! At the last count, 46 million domestic UK passenger journeys per annum were made by short-haul air - a large percentage of those journeys could potentially switch to High Speed Rail in the future, IF the lines are constructed. Deutsche Bahn will begin a service between London and Frankfurt & Amsterdam - why; because they believe there is sufficient market demand AND the lines are in-situ, EUROSTAR are spending £700 million on a new fleet of 320km per hour trainsets; to expand their destination portfolio from London - why; because they believe there is demand AND the lines are already or will be in-situ - do you see a pattern here - large centres of population + Connecting High Speed Line = High Speed Rail Service, so build the lines and the passengers will come, predominantly from modal shift from air and car to rail - a sustainable future for intra-European travel.
RGM
Monday, January 23, 2012 at 09:05 PMI also think you are over estimating the benefit to the North of the country. It will not bring it any nearer to Europe and the people in favour have done a good job of promising things they cannot deliver, like more jobs and companys relocating. Unfortunately most companys will still want to be near London. It would be great for buisiness to be spread all over UK but I can't see that happening in my lifetime.
algernon1234
Monday, January 23, 2012 at 08:58 PMWell Padav I do not think it is democratic for 55,000 replys to a consultation to be recieved against a scheme and only 665 for it yet it is proposed to go ahead.It will be interesting to see the reaction by those that will be affected when the Y section is announced.You also need to get your facts correct as there are many MPs beginning to see the cover-up that has been made and the numerous flaws are beginning to show.Articles against the fact that this will not make money are coming in the fiancial papers.The petitions are still increasing as more people that are not on the route become aware.I am also aware that there are few other than yourself wring in favour of it.If it is eventually built at the cost to the country I hope that your being in favour of it means that you will be travelling on it daily.I mean why else would you be writing so much..
Padav
Monday, January 23, 2012 at 07:07 PMYes, but the TGV network as a whole still makes an overall profit doesn't it @JR - just a plain YES will do for your response, rather than your selective prevarication. What's more private finance is actually getting involved now because the business model has been proven, albeit only on a long term (decades) basis and for the last time, HS1 was NOT sold for £2.1billion (it cost £5.8bn to build) - a 30 year renewable leasehold on the line was sold, the freehold reverts at the end of the leasehold, to be auctioned again - it really does help if you don't keep bending the facts to suit your argument!
JR
Monday, January 23, 2012 at 06:55 PM"by the way the TGV network in France makes healthy profit every year" Really? http:\\www.presseurop.eu\en\content\news-brief-cover\171421-tgv-losing-speed 20 % of TGV services are now losing money. "The financial golden age of the TGV is at an end," We paid for HS1, we sold it on at a £3 billion loss & HS1 is running at well below predicted capacity. But what do I know? I'm just a nimby - but hey, sticks and stones may break my bones but a £33billion deficit will be a millstone around OUR necks for generations to come.
Padav
Monday, January 23, 2012 at 06:36 PM@RGM - you've missed the point completely (perhaps deliberately?) High Speed Rail is not an exclusively domestic transport infrastructure solution - HS1 was built at the expense of the public taxpayer (that's all of us in the UK, not just those in London and the South East) but who benefitted from HS1 - answer those in London and the South East, ditto for CrossRail, which is currently consuming the same £2bn per annum strategic budget that will be allocated to HS2 in 2016 and for sixteen years thereafter. I didn't jump up and down about HS1because I could see the benefit to UK plc and of course London always gets everything first. I don't object to CrossRail even though I'll never use it. HS2 (phase 2) will actually come quite close to me and during the period between completion of phase 1 and phase 2 beginning to operate, the Classic Compatible Trainsets will pass by on the WCML as it approaches Manchester from the south - I can see it from my back window right now, approx 600m distant. I can easily perceive the value of HS2 to UK plc, in just the same way as I could for HS1 and now can for CrossRail. HS2 will link my Region (NW.England) directly to the burgeoning pan-European High Speed Rail network (by the way the TGV network in France makes healthy profit every year), so please no more of this nonsense about the UK being different from the France and Germany, last time I looked in an atlas, the British Isles was pictured on the page marked "EUROPE" Finally, the vast weight of expert opinion on this matter is strongly in favour of HS2 as the only credible long term solution to capacity shortfall. Please don't quote ideologically opposed groups like the TaxPayers Alliance or the Institute of Economic Affairs, they'd have us building a series of 8 lane private toll motorways instead! The only rail experts you might be able to rustle up are Chris Stokes (in the pay of 51M) and Christian Wolmar, who has been roundly condemned by his peers
Page 1 of 2
Your view
Please sign in to be able to comment on this story.