Ealing Green Party is working with Amanda Souter, community advocate and local Old Oak Common HS2 campaigner, to help mitigate the devastating effects of HS2 on Ealing communities.
2,000 residents who live close to the HS2 Old Oak Common station will face some of the worst impacts of any community along the length of the HS2 line. Click on the below link for an illustration of what the residents will face in the coming years.
- The construction will take eight years and starts this year
- The massive construction sites at Old Oak Common will take construction waste from Camden and Hillingdon
- The waste will be carried across the area by a combination of up to 700 two-way HGV journeys per day and a vast conveyor belt that runs behind gardens in Midland Terrace and Wells House Road
- Some of the work will take place 24/7
- Residents will live through noise, air and light pollution, massive disruption and visual impact of viaducts the height of homes and new rail lines running at the end of gardens that currently have natural views of woodland
- A massive tunnel will be bored under homes
- Woodland will be destroyed and wildlife displaced
- Some gardens are being subjected to compulsory purchase orders without compensation
- Buildings of character are being demolished
- 70 businesses in Park Royal are being displaced with hundreds of local jobs lost
- Traffic is already gridlocked around this part of the borough and when work begins and roads in the area close, congestion is likely to increase across much of Ealing
The impact of the HS2 station will have permanent impacts on residents
- When it’s completed, Old Oak Common station will be about the same size as Waterloo, with 250,000 passengers passing through it a day
- What was once a quiet sleepy area will become one of London’s major transport hubs with vast increases in road traffic
Greens will take every opportunity to vote against HS2
The Greens support high speed rail in principle because it can improve Britain’s transport systems, reduce road and air traffic and cut carbon emissions. But this HS2 project causes too much damage to local communities and to the environment.
Unlike Labour, Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, the Green Party is opposed to HS2 at both a national and local level.
To achieve HS2’s high speeds, trains are expected to use up to 50% more fuel than Eurostar and so carbon emissions will not be reduced.
The enormous sums involved – £56 billion and rising – could be better spent improving transport for everybody.
