Since on the 17th July 2017 it became apparent that we had not convinced the Government of the common sense of our arguments for rejecting the HS2 M18 route and the Blackwell Spur, and returning to a Sheffield Meadowhall High Speed Station, we are now planning our campaign for the Second Battle for Blackwell. And so we post a summary of the Background Information on our HS2 Blackwell Group and actions to date.
First a
bit of background information for those that do not know about Blackwell
Parish, which consists of the villages of Blackwell, Hilcote, Old Blackwell and
Newton. The area is steeped in history
and Newton was listed in the Domesday Book. Some areas of the Parish are in a
conservation area including Newton Old Hall, which dates back to 1690. Although
nestling alongside the M1 corridor, the area is a rural, ex-mining community
which has been transformed over the previous 4 decades with many of the old
mineral railway lines made into multi-user trails and a former opencast mine
has been transformed into Doe Hill Country Park, which is now a wildlife haven
and a leisure park used by dog walkers, equestrians, cyclists etc.
The HS2
Blackwell Group was formed in late 2016 after the Government had recommended a
change of route for HS2, which is to include a Spur Line skirting Hilcote, and
cutting through Old Blackwell, Newton and Doe Hill Country Park, before joining
the existing Erewash line at Morton bridge. The addition of this Spur renders
the village of Newton laying ‘in the jaws of HS2’ as it dissects both east and
west through the Parish, cutting through arterial roads/bridle ways,
demolishing peoples’ homes, and tearing through 17 fields and the tranquillity
of Doe Hill Country Park and Dimminsdale, displacing farmland, flora and fauna
en route.
The Group
has campaigned tirelessly since January 2017 against the Spur (but not HS2 per se
as we believe this is a “done deal’) including 36 events (see attached
timeline) such as information meetings, interviews with the local press and
media, leaflet drops, presentations at Westminster, as well as an active
Facebook Campaign and Blog. Throughout
what can only be described a ‘living nightmare’, we have been wholly supported
by our MP, Dennis Skinner, who spoke of his admiration and support for the
Campaign at our inaugural meeting. He
has stood up in Parliament and ‘shouted for our corner’ and arranged for
members to meet with the Secretary of State for Transport, Andrew Jones in
March 2017.
Since the
revised route was announced last November, HS2 Ltd have continuously given
false and inaccurate information. They
stated that are 5 homes in the ‘Safeguarded Zone’ but have failed to take into
account a housing estate, which is still under construction. The actually figure is 32 homes which are
safeguarded, and the topography and HS2 Engineering details indicate that these
would have to be demolished; many of these
are homes with families living in them for 20+ years or octogenarian
owners that have resided there for 50+ years. You cannot
imagine the stress these families are facing living at “ground zero”. In a
similar position to the
Shimmer Estate in Mexborough, South Yorkshire, 10 other houses are new builds
which have been completed during the last 6 months and we understand these and 12 others on the
estate in the Rural Support Zone have been bought by HS2 before the
announcement of the route on July 17.
There are
many more homes within 120 metres of the centre of the proposed track, which
will suffer the noise and vibration from the trains travelling at up to 160 mph
through Old Blackwell and Newton. While that particular impact lessens for those
homes further away, no-one in the parish is going to be spared serious
disruptions to their everyday lives through road closures and diversions of
services such as sewers, water supply, gas and electricity supply,
telecommunications, TV and internet cabling, etc. During and after construction
of HS2 many of the arterial roads, which are also used by commuters to travel
to the M1 and A38, will be shut and some may remain closed. This will cause
delays and traffic chaos indefinitely.
Needless
to say, properties both inside and outside the zones within the HS2
‘compensation schemes’, have been devalued by up to 30%. We have gathered
evidence of real hardship and stress caused to homeowners, who can neither sell
their properties at market price of 2015, nor get recognition from HS2 that
their home is adversely affected. Their cases have been strongly argued with
all supporting evidence, and yet been rejected by HS2. The HS2 ‘compensation’
scheme is not straightforward; many may have been misled to expect ‘Compo
Pay-outs’ by inexperienced HS2 representatives at their Events.
In these
circumstances, the Group believes that our strongest protest should be against
the Spur line, designed to get HS2 trains into Sheffield City Centre, rather
than the original plan for a state of the art station at Meadowhall to serve
the Sheffield, North Derbyshire and South Yorkshire Region.
The
Meadowhall stop between the East Midlands Hub at Toton and Leeds, was the
preferred option for all HS2 executives, and Government from 2013 until May
2016, but Sheffield City Council (SCC) argued for a Sheffield City Centre
station. SCC lobbied strongly, spending £190,000, including £6,000 on a
Breakfast for HS2 representatives. In July 2016 the route was changed and in
November 2016 the route including the Blackwell Spur and the cancellation of a
Meadowhall station became the HS2/Government’s recommended route.
We
continue to ask what influenced the decision to follow Sheffield City, and
ignore the views of the wider region. At HS2 events and in their publications,
HS2 have quoted the following:-
Financial … Up to £1bn saving over the 2013 route
as fewer properties would need to be demolished … but HS2 have been pressured
to admit that they do not have an actual count of the properties affected by
the new route, as evidenced in Newton by their inability to have the Newton
Field development on their database. Additionally the HS2 costings do not include
electrification of the Sheffield to Leeds Northern Loop (£300m), the
possibility of a new Parkway station near M18 (£200-300m), reengineering of
Sheffield Midland Station (£???m) and the electrification of the Sheffield Line
(£???m). To say nothing of the higher operating costs for the new route.
Pressure from Transport for the
North (TfN) for a city centre station… exposed by the statement of the TfN
chief Executive David Brown that he did not have a view of what was the best
option and that it was “disingenuous to say he had driven this change” . Interestingly
in 2015, it was agreed that the accountable authority for TfN funds would
be Sheffield City Combined Authority, in
which the leader of Sheffield City Council was a key player.
Engineering difficulties in construction of a
Meadowhall Station … what a terrible admission to make, that Britain does not
have the skills and enterprise to build a State of the Art station; the
opportunity to show our engineering ability has been shelved in favour of
running High Speed trains on a slow speed track into the city centre.
Capacity… ‘High Speed’ is no
longer the buzzword for HS2 and ‘capacity’ has taken over. But trains into
Sheffield City Centre will have half the capacity of those that would serve Meadowhall,
and with only 2 trains per hour serving Sheffield City Centre, the total
capacity is one fifth of that of a Meadowhall option. The journey time from
Sheffield City Centre to London via Meadowhall, is calculated at 79 minutes,
versus 85 to 87 minutes or longer for the new route including the Blackwell
Spur.
However,
even though public option is 15-1 against the revised M18 route (including the
Sheffifeld Spur), our plight seems to have been totally ignored by Chris
Grayling, Andrew Jones, HS2 Limited et al.
Now that this route has been finalised, we believe the Government and
SCC have committed a grave injustice, not only to Blackwell, but to the whole
NE Derbyshire and South Yorkshire Region, and Government and HS2 will be unable
to mitigate for the loss to the economy, from which the Hub at East Midlands,
and Leeds City will benefit.
