Published: 13 January, 2012
by JOSH LOEB

CHAOS on Westminster’s roads could result from plans to send a new high-speed rail link from London to Birmingham, campaigners warn.

The £33billion High Speed Two (HS2) project was rubber-stamped by Conservative transport secretary Justine Greening on Tuesday in the face of stiff opposition.

Due to be operating by 2026, it will mean a complete redevelopment of Euston station and the construction of several giant ventilation shafts along the route of giant tunnels set to be bored under Harrow Road, Maida Vale and Queen’s Park.

Neighbouring Camden will be even worse affected – there homes will be torn down and entire neighbourhoods destroyed.

Even dyed-in-the-wool supporters of HS2 have conceded that construction work will be huge in north Westminster, parts of which are already reeling from the affects of building Crossrail.

In Westminster 1,400 residents signed a petition against the plans during a consultation period last year.

Warning of traffic chaos, Julius Hogben, chairman of North Westminster Residents and Business Against HS2, called on the government to reconsider and look again at other options.

He said: “Expert blueprints of vastly cheaper and less destructive schemes have been proposed and have not been fully considered by the government.

“What about John Walker’s futuristic proposal which looks beyond the foreseeable time when HS2 will be redundant anyway?

“What has happened to Westminster Council’s proposal to shift the projected track to under the existing railway?

There has been no mention of the council’s concern about the HS2 vent on Kilburn Lane East either.”

He feared properties could be blighted for years and said there would be increased pollution and congestion in inner London because of construction work – issues that have been raised by council officers.

A spokesman for the Department for Transport said that, as the project progresses, issues concerning residents would be tackled. The department would be “working closely” with all those affected.

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