HS2 is spending greater than £100m on a “shed” to guard bats on a piece of the road, although there’s “no proof that high-speed trains intrude with bats”, the venture firm’s chairman has stated.
Sir Jon Thompson stated the 1km (0.6 mile) curved construction at Sheephouse Wooden in Buckinghamshire will create a barrier so the creatures can fly over the railway with out being affected by passing trains as all bats are legally protected within the UK.
Mr Thompson advised the Rail Trade Affiliation’s annual convention in London on Thursday HS2 is asking the constructing “a shed”, and it’s being constructed to appease Whitehall advisory physique, Pure England.
The construction runs for round 1km (0.6 miles). Pic: PA
He warned his viewers they’d not imagine it, however the shed “price greater than £100m to guard the bats on this wooden”.
It was, he stated, an instance of the UK’s “real drawback” with finishing main infrastructure initiatives, explaining that the government-owned firm has needed to receive 8,276 consents from different public our bodies associated to planning, transport and the atmosphere to construct part one of many railway between the capital and Birmingham.
He stated: “Folks say you have gone over the price range, however did individuals take into consideration the bats [when setting the budget]?
“I am being trite about it however I am making an attempt for instance one instance of the 8,276 of those [consents].”
Different, costlier choices have been additionally checked out whereas the Excessive Pace Two (London to West Midlands) Act was going via parliament, he stated, together with boring a tunnel and re-routing the railway away from the wooden.
Sheephouse Wooden is residence to a number of totally different bat species, together with essentially the most northerly recognized colony of the uncommon Bechstein’s bat. Pic: PA
Even after Pure England authorised the design, the corporate needed to spend “lots of of 1000’s of kilos” on attorneys and environmental specialists as a result of the native council didn’t approve the work, Sir Jon stated.
“In the long run, I received the planning permission by going above Buckinghamshire Council’s head,” he defined.
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Sir Jon, who has led the venture since Mark Thurston left his function as chief government in September 2023, warned in January that the estimated price for part one has soared to as a lot as £66.6bn.
In 2013, HS2 was estimated to price £37.5bn (in 2009 costs) for your entire deliberate community, together with now-scrapped extensions from Birmingham to each Manchester and Leeds.
