On July 7th 2016 Sir David Higgins, Chairman of HS2 Limited gave his name to a Report which recommended abandoning the Existing HS2 Eastern Leg Route 2B through South & West Yorkshire in favour of a longer route 30km to the East. This new Eastern M18 Route was claimed to be a saving of £1 billion over the old route, and the new route involved a lower number of demolitions, lower noise impacts & better geological conditions than the previous route running through Meadowhall.
It was "unfortunate" however the report admitted that the new route would entirely demolish the Newly built Housing Development of 215 homes at the Strata Home Shimmer Estate at Mexborough.
Local campaigners & community representatives have now identified a staggering 323 properties along the new 58km route which lie within the 60 metre Safeguarding zone and are at risk of demolition/compulsory purchase by HS2 Limited. That figure is over three times the previous number of demolitions of 105 for the original route. This makes the statement on page 22 of the Higgins Report - a lie & therefore the Secretary of State Chris Grayling MP is being given false information to make his decision in November 2016 over the choice of the route.
We have repeatedly called on Sir David Higgins to correct these false assertions as a Freedom of Information request from Bramley resident Chris Matthewman has established that HS2 Limited did no assessment of demolitions before announcing this new route.
Jonathan Pile - Chair of Crofton Against HS2. Coordinator Yorkshire Against HS2
yorkshireagainsths2@gmail.com
