High Speed Rail Route Questioned by Lib Dems
Posted on Monday 29th March 2010 00:00 by Keith
Councillor
Ian Jackson
"The Labour government as usual however have got it completely wrong with their proposals for the new HS2 route to Birmingham" says Councillor Ian Jackson, Leader of the Opposition on Lichfield District Council.
"Far more use needs to be made of existing transportation corridors such as the M40 and the M6 Toll, rather than slicing through undeveloped countryside. North of Birmingham it makes no sense looping around Lichfield when a far more direct and less intrusive route would follow the M6 Toll/M6 corridor."
"The resulting environmental damage to Lichfield is not only unacceptable, but quite unnecessary. The proposal to divert the line via Lichfield only arises because the London to Birmingham section is being planned in isolation. This "temporary" solution that has emerged will end up being the permanent route by default unless a concerted effort is made to ensure that a more direct route north is taken into consideration at this stage."
"The current proposals adversely affect Lichfield in many ways. As well as the environmental impact of the route, the proposals effectively blight the area north of the mainline which was being considered for future housing growth. This will have the immediate effect of increasing pressure on development to the south of the City."
"In the longer term, our already poor direct service to London is threatened as the Liverpool and London trains that currently stop will mostly, if not all, be diverted past Lichfield on the new high speed route."
