Kids say NO to HS2
High speed rail will ‘ruin our houses’ and ‘we won’t get much done at school’.
Young people from Great Missenden and surrounding towns and villages came out to say no to the proposed line that will cut through the Misbourne Valley if it goes ahead. A class from the Great Missenden School performed a play to a crowd of more than a thousand in Buryfields to show how it could affect their lives.
Somewhere to Someplace
Felicity Simpson told the crowd she was worried about ‘horrible trucks and lorries’ that would make her local roads dangerous. As spokesperson for the under-18s, she was worried about safety during building of the line that would only be going from ‘somewhere to someplace’. She warned the government that they must listen to the voices of young people as they will be voters in the future.
Erica, 10, from a village near by didn’t want it to be built through the woods she and her friends go walking in. ‘Who’s going to pay 200 pounds to go a bit faster’ at the expense of people’s houses, it’s ‘horrible’, she said.
Other children had concerns about the noise. They could have trouble concentrating at school if the line passed through the grounds of The Misbourne. The teachers would have to stop every two minutes as the train passed.
The sound of a train was played to create an impression of the noise impact on the surrounding area.
The rally was organised by HS2 Action Alliance. Two local MP’s Cheryl Gillan and David Lidington came out in support; she described the impact as ‘enormous’ whilst he said people should ‘work together’ and create a ‘force of argument to preserve this landscape’
The Prime Minister David Cameron attended the fireworks in Great Missenden the night before, but did not take up the offer of an invitation to Sunday’s HS2 rally, according to Buckinghamshire county councillor Martin Tett.
Carrying trains at 250mph from London to Birmingham, the line would cut journey times from 90 to 50 minutes. When it is extended, it is estimated that times to Manchester, Leeds and Scotland will be nearly half what they are now and it is hoped that it will link to High Speed 1 taking trains in to France.
