IN her latest column, Warrington North MP Helen Jones talks HS2

IN recent weeks the HS2 Ltd bandwagon has, yet again, rolled into town with ‘information days’ held in the villages of Culcheth and Hollins Green.

Sadly these events seem more designed to promote the so-called benefits of the project rather than listening to the concerns of residents and their elected representatives.

We did, however, learn a little more about HS2 Ltd.’s plans on how they are going to deliver their proposed route.

It would appear that there will be permanent road closures and diversions in both Culcheth and Hollins Green which will bring significant inconvenience and disruption to people.

HS2 Limited’s response to the overwhelming opposition to these plans was a shrug of the shoulders and to point to a further consultation in September.

I don’t hold out much hope that, even with a show of massive opposition from residents, they will change their plans significantly.

We have seen these listening displays before and they produce few tangible results.

The government minister accepted my concerns about the Golborne spur in a parliamentary debate and said the position would be reviewed.

The result was that even through the original justification for the spur, the stock depot at Golborne, had been removed from the equation the Government refused to change its mind.

Sadly, unless there is a complete u-turn by the Government I fear the HS2 battle has been lost.

There have been only minor changes to the route despite numerous ‘consultations’ and it remains a fact that it will be devastating for people living in Hollins Green and areas of Culcheth.

This is now the route the Government has chosen, a fact Conservative councillors who have written to me should bear in mind.

It is their minister who has the final say.

We must now ensure that the compensation scheme is fair and efficiently run and that efforts are made to try to mitigate the effects of the building and operation of the line.

I will continue to press for this but the Government shows no signs of wanting to alter the present schemes that HS2 limited are implementing.

The best chance of doing this and getting changes to the compensation scheme will be when the hybrid bill for this part of the line is put before parliament.

During consideration of the bill interested parties can petition the committee.