Select Committee Visit - 7 October 2014

This is a summary from Cllr Marcus Stewart of last week’s Select Committee visit.

On Tuesday 7 October four members of the Select Committee visited Burton Green.

Ahead of the visit, the Parish Council, Residents’ Association, Action Group, Greenway Trust and Primary School worked together to ensure Burton Green presented itself with one voice and stressed the serious impact HS2 will have on the parish.

These local groups were also supported by Warwickshire County Council, Warwick District Council and Jeremy Wright MP.

The committee visited the school, the Greenway and the top of Red lane.

They then moved on to the Village Hall where they were met by Chair of the Parish Council, Vaughan Owen. The main messages were seven years of construction problems, residents already leaving the village, the HGV route passing the school, construction noise, spoil being imported into the village, the number of compounds in the village, houses lost and many residents affected, loss of local ancient woodland, the route going right through the middle of the village, houses encircled by HS2 workings, the siting of the ATFS near to homes, and the noise at the tunnel entrance and exit.

Committee members heard an overview from Andy Gibbs of the Action Group, listened to Rona Taylor of the Residents’ Association explain the permanent impacts HS2 will have, Councillor Stewart covered the construction issues, then Andy Gibbs talked about mitigation and compensation.

The feedback from the select committee was that these messages were heard loud and clear on the impacts of the parish. The HS2 team in attendance were very quiet and did not challenge any of the points made. The day was good preparation for appearances in front of the Select Committee.

Claire Turner

Burton Green Parish Council Clerk