3rd July 2019
I recently attended a meeting which was organised by Great Missenden and The Lee PC’s, with Sir Mark Worthington who is HS2’s construction commissioner, and Deborah Fazan the resident’s commissioner. The commissioners listened attentively to our comprehensive list of complaints and took copious notes. Having met them I do believe that both commissioners will act as honest brokers when dealing with our complaints, but they are without real powers. The resident’s commissioner who deals with compensation schemes for residents, is a part time role. I intend to ask them if they’d be available for a public meeting in Wendover where you can meet them.
You can find out more about their roles and activities here.
The shambolic state of the UK government continues to make our lobbying efforts more difficult than you or I might hope. We now hear that the Treasury revue, which will lead to a three year plan for government, is further delayed until Autumn. You can read into that which they mean after the Conservative Party leadership is settled and any fallout that might ensue is dealt with. Wendover was invited to deposit evidence into the revue process. We will need to ensure that the evidence remains in focus during the delay.
Our lobbyists see both the revue and the leadership contest as an opportunity to get our message across to yet more influential government figures. We will be working hard to promote the Wendover Mined Tunnel to all the contenders.
Talking of shambolic. As a spin off from working with HS2 Ltd. we feel that we are qualified to comment on their competence. We’re not impressed. They seem unable to hit targets, targets that they themselves set. Information provided is often late, wrong or immediately superseded. They are appalling at paying out on agreements with landowners and they want access at the wrong time for the farmer. Good, experienced project managers are walking away from HS2. The vertical management structure is weak and ineffective. How different it all is to the shiny pledges made to Parliament of HS2 being a beacon of best practice, working to tight environmental standards harnessing cutting edge technology. Oh! And this was all to be built by HS2 as our “good neighbours”, or so we were told. How’s that going for you? If you’ve got a tale of HS2 Ltd. not being up to the mark could you tell me about it? It would help our efforts.
Should you have a question or an issue with HS2 this is where you can ask questions or complain.
https://hs2inbucksandoxfordshire.commonplace.is/ is the place for finding out about HS2 activity locally.
hs2enquiries@hs2.org.uk is the email you need for complaints and questions.
Tom Walsh