UK: HS2 High Speed High Tension

Over the last fortnight I have gone down a High Speed 2 research wormhole, sparked by the thought that I hadn’t heard much about what was going on lately with this bloated project. I started to google around and to read the media outside my usual reference points, which led to a fair few discoveries, some good some bad. This is a time of high tension, a time when the white elephant should be retired before it’s too late. With my head full of statistics and controversies, I chatted to friends and families in the park and at barbecues and received a fascinating range of opinions. There are protest camps going on and I visited some of them. There are reports from various groups, for and against, which I have read. I came to realise that Stop HS2is a huge socio-political issue which the mainstream media (and to be fair also the alternative media I tend to read) are simply not covering in all its complexity.

In this article, I’d like to draw attention to a few issues. The judicial review launched by Chris Packham has just failed on appeal and that’s a real shame, but the struggle is far from over. Various court cases are in progress and these people need our support, as well as the camps which are springing up to protect threatened areas of natural beauty. Nobody is against a railway in itself, but the story is far more nuanced than that.

[Read More]

Tags: ,

Birmingham: Report back from Jellytot StopHS2 courtcase

There are currently several courtcases going on prosecuting Stop HS2 activists, whilst HS2 Limited recently announced that their chief executive earned £659,000 last year, making him the highest paid UK government official. The board of directors got £1.6m remuneration in total … and this was all paid for by our taxes!? Instead of this greed and corruption being investigated, at the end of July young tree protector Jellytot faced charges at Birmingham High Court for allegedly breaking an injunction seventeen times. Defending ancient woodland in Warwickshire is the alleged crime!
[Read More]

UK: Stop HS2 Update

Despite a media blackout, lots is happening in the world of HS2 resistance. High speed 2 is a corrupt scheme now predicted to cost over £100 billion which will both devastate areas of natural beauty and enrich Tory cronies and construction companies. Whilst the idea to have a superfast railway line connecting the north of England to London has some merit, since the south-east is over-crowded and the UK desperately needs to reduce carbom emissions, the implementation of HS2 is completely stupid. It’s a slow ecological catastrophe. Instead of building better transport links in the north, HS2 construction has started in the south and the midlands. Ancient woodlands are being trashed by contractors who have ignored the nesting season for birds and used hawks illegally to clear zones. Just the other day in Denham, a beautiful alder tree was chopped down and a tree protector was hospitalised.

The HS2 railway project is a bloated white elephant which needs to be stopped. The Woodland Trust estimates more than 100 areas of ancient woodland will be trashed, over 30 sites of special scientific interest lost and more than twenty nature reserves destroyed. The most recent reserve under attack is Calvert Jubilee in Buckinghamshire, which has been compulsory purchased and will be cleared by HS2 beginning Tuesday 28 July. HS2 had previously entered the site in January pretending to be the owner and had chopped down trees. You know that something is going deeply wrong when the Tory leader of Buckinghamshire Council tweets: “Absolutely dreadful. Have visited this beautiful Reserve many times. This is a crime against nature”

So where is the resistance? Currently there are several protest camps dotted along the proposed route. It’s hard to find out exactly what’s going on without using facebook and twitter, so there’s clearly a need for anarchist and alternative media to do more on this important issue.

Onto a list of the camps:
[Read More]

UK: Poors Piece Conservation Project

Hello there. Thank you everyone for your continued support. It is much appreciated. Please see below a camp wish list for some basic foodstuff essentials. Every donation is valued and appreciated.
Thank you.

  • Tinned tomatoes
  • Tinned baked beans, chick peas, kidney beans, sweetcorn,etc.
  • Tinned coconut milk
  • Soup
  • Dried green and red lentils.
  • Cereal (not oats at the moment)
  • And….clothes for a two year old girl.

Location:Steeple Claydon, Bucks, MK18 2HH
Facebook: Poors Piece Conservation Project
[Read More]

UK: Save Roald Dahl Woods from HS2

Jones Hill Wood is a small woodland situated between Wendover and Great Missenden. This wood is at the start of the planned Wendover viaduct for HS2. It is also bordered by two family farms under the threat of impending forced evictions.

These families and woods are part of our literary, cultural and social history, inspiring Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr Fox adventures. This is something we should cherish and preserve for future generations.

This inspirational woodland is a key location in the Chilterns HS2 development and we need to come together to save this land and the trees around it!

We need people to come and help form a rota to occupy this woodland or it will be lost forever. We have limited time, the HS2 fence is one field away. We have limited numbers and resource. It’s time to act.

There is a small number of us right now and we are calling out to locals, and concerned humans across the United Kingdom. Come and play your part in helping reverse the decision to press ahead with the colossal mistake that is HS2. Do not leave this to the few!

Location: See pic, Jones Hill Woods near Wendover, Bucks HP22 6QD
Facebook: Save Roald Dahl Woods from HS2
[Read More]

UK: Save Crackley Woods Camp

Crackley, Birches Roughknowles and Broadwells, all ancient woodlands outside Kenilworth, Warwickshire, are under threat from HS2. Recently, some work in ancient woodland was halted but some is still happening, and HS2 Ltd still plan to take down parts of the Queens Diamond Jubilee Wood during the current review.

The camp is not in the main bit of Crackley Woods, and is most easily found just behind the HS2 compound on Cryfield Grange Road, CV8 2JU (some satnavs may send you to where the university cycle path crosses the road, we are NOT there, we are at the Crackley Lane end, behind the HS2 compound). The camp is also accessible via the bridleway that starts at Crackley Farm and crosses the Greenway on a bridge.
Google maps or what3words
[Read More]

UK: Wendover Active Resistance Camp

Wendover Active Resistance Camp is situated in the direct route of HS2 in Buckinghamshire. We are a collective of autonomous individuals here to protect the environment and our precious wildlife.

Please come visit us and check out the wish list to support us protecting this area and find out more about what we do.

Location = Beside London Road (A413) at HP22 6PN – Opposite Road Barn Farm! – Concealed entrance signs written in red paint
Instagram: w.a.r.camp
Facebook: Wendover Active Resistance Camp

WISHLIST:

We’re really low on food and SOCKS!
[Read More]