On March 11th 2010 plans were announced by the Government to build a new high speed rail line between London and Birmingham
that will pass through the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The aim is that the line, known as High Speed 2, will
ultimately extend to northern England.
The preferred route for the line as it passes through the Chilterns is via the Misbourne Valley, in a tunnel past Chalfont St
Giles and Amersham and then mostly overground to Wendover. Construction of the line will start in 2017 and take nine years, at a cost
of £18 billion. See maps of the detailed route below.
The Chilterns Conservation Board believes that the net benefits of the new line, both environmental and economic, have not been
proven and therefore there is not a strong enough case to justify causing irreversible damage to the Chilterns AONB.
"The Chilterns is protected as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, part of the same family as National Parks - its countryside
is nationally important," says Steve Rodrick, Chief Officer of the Conservation Board. "It is not an appropriate place for any
major development. Even if High Speed 2 is considered to be in the national interest that case has yet to be proven and accepted
as beyond doubt. In our view there are realistic alternatives to achieving the same environmental and economic gains."
AONBs, like National Parks, are designated as some of our finest countryside. National planning law states that major development
within an AONB can only be considered if it is clearly in the national interest and cannot go anywhere else. The Conservation Board
does not believe that High Speed 2 meets either of these tests.
What you can do if you are opposed to the line being built through the Chilterns:
Write to your MP
Write to Lord Adonis at the Department for Transport
