News

• Pressure mounts as Government struggles to keep high level HS2 report a secret

   

   

  Pressure is growing on the Government to reveal why the proposed high speed rail   link between London and Birmingham through the Chilterns – HS2 – has been given amber/red status by its own Major Projects Authority, meaning that the successful delivery of  £33bn project  is in doubt.

  A number of Tory MPs, headed by Europe Minister  and Aylesbury MP David Lidington want details of the authority’s report made public before a Parliamentary Bill is published.  So far the Government has refused to give details and says Freedom of Information rules do not apply.

  Anti HS2 campaigner Joe Rudkin said: “The authority say HS2 is broke and they are not sure if it can be fixed, but no one will see why until after the bill has gone to Parliament.  How can it be that a report designed to look in to the viability of spending billions of pounds can be a state secret?”

   

• Royal swans in danger as three suffer “horrific injuries” from shootings in Windsor

   

   

  Police are hunting an attacker who is shooting swans on the River Thames at Windsor.  Three birds were found with “horrific injuries” by the riverbank on Tuesday – one had been shot through the head by someone using a air rifle. They are being treated at the Swan Lifeline shelter in Eton.

  In February a swan died after being shot by the Windsor riverbank. Police are not sure if the attacks are linked.

• Supporters trust set to take over Wycombe Wanderers as owner prepares to cut his losses

   

  14 May 

  Wycombe Wanderers is set to become the fourth football league club to be owned by its supporters. In a surprise move today the club announced that owner Steve Hayes was in “the final stages of negotiations” with the supporters group Wycombe Wanderers Trust.

  The trust said Mr Hayes was offering favourable terms for the takeover. The club is thought to owe Mr Hayes about £5m. He is also in negotiation to sell the rugby club London Wasps, which he also owns and which shares Wanderers’ Adams Park ground.

  Supporters’ message boards were generally welcoming the announcement which, if completed successfully, will mean that Wycombe will join Brentford, Exeter and Wimbledon as wholly supporter-owned clubs.

   

• Local GPs consider “pretending” to take industrial action

   

  GPs in Buckinghamshire, Berkshire and Oxfordshire are unlikely to take industrial action next week in protest over changes to their pensions even though they may say they are.

  In a message to members,the GP’s Local Medical Committee for the area says “GPs could decide to take industrial action for media purposes, but in reality take none at all.   Stopping routine care for a day would only produce a stressful workload.”

  The British Medical Association wants a day of action to highlight what they see as poorer pension arrangements proposed by the Government, but Dr Paul Roblin told the doctors’ magazine Pulse that GPs would be the only people to be hurt by cancelling routine appointments.
• HS2 progress delayed as it is omitted from mention in the Queen’s Speech

   

  9 May

  The proposed high speed rail link between London and Birmingham  through the Chilterns – HS2 – was omitted from the Queen’s Speech today, which  outlined the Government’s legislative programme for the coming year.

  Transport Secretary Justine Greening said that environmental issues surrounding the proposed route were still being examined and that it was proposed to include HS2 legislation in next year’s speech.

  The move will boost opponents however, who have achieved a one year delay in the official progression of the scheme, which is under increasingly critical scrutiny. Wycombe MP Steve Baker has called for a rethink the £33bn plan and there are reports of increasing unease among other Tory MPs.  It’s also  thought the Government wants to discover the outcome of legal challenges to the scheme before commiting Parliamentary time to its preparation.
• London Wasps eye plans for new stadium “ten minutes” away from Adams Park

   

  7 May 

  Premier league rugby side London Wasps anticipate continuing to play at Wycombe’s Adams Park for a couple of years while developing a new 12,000 seat stadium “ten minutes away”, it is reported today.

  Wasps chairman  Mark Rigby said terns for the sale of the club had been agreed and “finer details” are now being worked out. The buyer is said to  be  former Wasps player Ken Moss, who has made a fortune in the IT industry and is  heading a consortium.

  Rugby correspondents in the Times and Guardian say the site for a new ground has been identified by the M40, nearer London and ten minutes away from Adams Park, which would indicate an area around  Beaconsfield or Denham.
• Tory MP rebels and calls for HS2 rethink as the Government faces a fifth legal challenge

   

  6 May

  Wycombe Tory  MP Steve Baker has broken ranks and said the Government must review its plans for a high speed rail link between London and Birmingham (HS2) after latest figures show its economic value to the country is far less than originally envisaged.

  In his blog, Mr Baker says the “challenge panels” set to look critically at HS2 proposals are “stuffed with HS2 supporters” and it is up to Transport Secretary Justine Greening “to defend the public interest.”

  Mr Baker said: “Private investors would not undertake this project because it is not commercially viable.  Those involved should look seriously at why Government is undertaking a project which is in danger of being yet another grand failure, one we can ill afford.” Evidence to Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee last month showed that the predicted benefit of HS2 to the country’s economy had more than halved since the scheme was originally proposed.

  Meanwhile, a fifth legal challenge has been issued against the proposed route of HS2 through the Chilterns. Aylesbury Park Golf – which would see HS2 slice through its course on a viaduct – is seeking a judicial review.  Other legal challenges have been issued by 19 local authorities, environmental and conservation groups and a group of developers wanting the route to run via Heathrow.