Team in Lichfield today

While I am in Strasbourg, my West Midlands team are in Lichfield today and people are keen to talk about why they want to #StopHS2

Nikki says no to HS2

I have tirelessly campaigned against HS2 and finally it seems that people are starting to realise what I was saying is true. HS2 will bring no economic benefit to the West Midlands, rather it would act as a vaccuum, sucking any benefits from the West Midlands region and sending it to London.

It's time to back the train up on HS2.

What else could we do with the money?
• Completely electrify the rail network
• Upgrade every line including the appalling Cross- Country services, benefitting every part of the country
• Reinstate the Building Schools for the Future programme
• Put planes on our aircraft carrier
• Keep two aircraft carriers!
• Reinstate cuts to our police forces and police officers
• Build 60,000 affordable homes every year
• Stop university fees increase

 
Every one of these would generate employment in every part of Britain. Common sense?

MEP CALLS FOR HALT TO HS2 PROJECT AHEAD OF SECOND BILL READING

EURO MP Nikki Sinclaire has called for a halt to the HS2 project, a day before a a second reading of a Bill in Parliament.

The High Speed Rail (Preparation) Bill is due to have its second reading in the House of Commons on Wednesday.

 
The We Demand a Referendum NOW MEP has been a high profile opponent of the high speed rail scheme. The high speed rail (preparation) bill is designed to commit the funding required to build a high speed rail network from London to Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester.

It is intended to provide a sign of the Government's commitment to, and the cross-party support for, building HS2.

The We Demand a Referendum NOW MEP said, “I continue to urge the Government and the Midlands MPs to look at and the alternative options for improving capacity and journey times between Birmingham and London as the next phase of investment in upgrading the National Rail Network.

The £32 billion Project including the £17 billion+ Birmingham to London High Speed 2 Rail Link is simply not financially viable and proposed would simply increase the costs of travel and fail to live up to the lofty promises espoused by the proponents of the scheme”.

She added, “The failings of HS1 in Kent and the downgrading of local services there supports my argument that this project is simply an expensive white elephant. 

There is a real danger of Birmingham becoming a subsidiary of London if the HS2 project goes ahead. The money would be better spent on further regeneration within the Midlands”.

I refute the argument that the project would bring sustainable jobs to the Midlands. The job creation would be temporary and transitory putting extra strain on other public resources such as health, education and housing. Real funding needs to be put into skill training for long term job creation”

The ruling on HS2, and the situation in Cyprus

The banking situation in Cyprus has hit the headlines over the weekend, with a 10 billion euro bailout plan thrashed out by the Cypriot government, European Commission and European Central Bank, and agreed by the EU and the IMF. The deal currently on the table will see all those with Cypriot bank accounts forced to pay a levy of 6.75% on sums less than 100,000 euros, and 9.9% on those over.

 

Opposition leader George Lillikas has argued that President Anastasiades has “betrayed the people’s vote”. Given that this is a deal that will have a devastating impact on citizens (with the burden placed very directly on the citizens), and was agreed by institutions without the consent of the people, I can’t help but agree.

 

This levy will also affect non-Cypriot citizens too, including UK expats. While George Osborne has pledged to compensate any UK government employees and military personnel in Cyprus, no such support will be available for other Britons. At the moment, it seems depositors in the overseas arms of Cypriot banks will be safe.

 

Fears are growing that investor confidence in the eurozone will be shattered by this deal and the uncertainty in Cyprus, forcing the nation to leave the Euro, which will of course have an effect on the rest of us. And clearly, this turmoil provides yet another reason why we should leave the EU.

 

Last Friday saw Mr Justice Ouseley rule on judgements over the HS2 plans. Unfortunately, the ruling went in the government’s favour on 9 out of the 10 points, and the government now says they will “press ahead without delay” after what they describe as a “landmark victory”.

 

One positive to take from the ruling is that the consultation into compensation for those affected was deemed to be so “unfair as to be unlawful”, and the Department for Transport will now hold another property consultation which should see those affected given fairer compensation settlements.  Many groups have also stated that they will appeal the decision.

 

Rail Minister Simon Burns still claims that the “project is in the national interest”, but I wholeheartedly disagree for numerous reasons, as I have made publically clear. I am concerned about the effect on people’s homes and the countryside. The planned rail line runs through beautiful countryside and some of the best sites in Britain for wildlife. I believe, as do many others, that the projected passenger demand is unrealistic and ordinary rail users will find themselves unable to afford the increased fares. HS2 would also not ease overcrowding issues on some lines until 2026, and money could be spent delivering more effective and immediate results. For more information on where I stand on HS2, please visit my blog (http://nikkisinclairemep.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/HS2) and website (http://yourmep.org/hs2.html).

 

I plan to continue the fight against HS2 and to support those also campaigning against it. While this ruling is a disappointment and a setback, this will not deter me from opposing these government plans.

Centro and HS2

I have today written to Centro about their support for the HS2 project. I shall post their reply as soon as we have it.



I am firmly against HS2, this is taken from my own website:

West Midlands MEP Nikki Sinclaire is backing local residents’ objections to HS2 and is calling for the Coalition Government to review the alternative options for improving capacity and journey times between Birmingham and London as the next phase of investment in upgrading the National Rail Network. The £17 billion B’ham to London High Speed 2 Rail Link is simply not financially viable and proposed revised changes would simply increase the costs of travel. Nikki said ‘’The Government must stop wasting taxpayers’ money on a vanity project as the new route destroys homes and villages. It would cut a motorway wide swathe through our countryside to Birmingham International where a huge new car park would be required’’.   What could we do instead of HS2? • Completely electrify the rail network • Upgrade every line including the appalling Cross- Country services, benefitting every part of the country • Reinstate the Building Schools for the Future programme • Put planes on our aircraft carrier • Keep two aircraft carriers! • Reinstate cuts to our police forces and police officers • Build 60,000 affordable homes every year • Stop university fees increase Every one of these would generate employment in every part of Britain. Common sense?

"Upgrading the existing Euston to Birmingham International Rail Line would reduce travel times to 50 minutes and allow alternate stopping and flexible local services to be integrated into a faster service that also meets the commuting needs of the intermediate communities while still catering for rail freight." What isn’t mentioned much is the real concern that HS2 would lead to economic decline in intervening towns and cities including Coventry and Northampton. So in fact the project would almost certainly end up as a vacuum, sucking investment away from the West Midlands.

Why I am a NIMBY

Yes, I am a NIMBY. So are you. So is everyone who cares about the environment. “Il faut cultiver notre jardin,” said Voltaire. If we were all permitted to follow his advice, the planet would be very much greener and pleasant.

British fishermen would not lay waste to fisheries which should one day sustain their grandchildren. Spaniards will. No-one is better qualified or better motivated to maintain and improve the environment than he or she who lives and works in a specific area and so has a vested interest in its sustainability.

But of course, a community or nation has requirements which do not always conform with the welfare of our prized herbaceous borders, so constant war exists between government and the concerned individual. This, provided that the NIMBY voice be heeded, is a healthy evolutionary battle.

We NIMBYs have plenty of reasons for objecting to the London-Birmingham High Speed Rail Link. It cuts a motorway-wide swathe through 150 designated nature sites, including ten SSIs and four nature reserves, without adequate consultation. It necessitates construction of a vast new car-park at Birmingham International. Even its most ardent champions cannot pretend that it will improve the appearance of the Chilterns or the quality of habitat for nearby villagers or Britain’s wildlife.

As for the cheap rhetoric attempting to embarrass British people for being small-time and outdated, that should be sent back, artfully mutilated and strapped across its horse. Proponents of HS2 wrote to the Daily Telegraph, pointing out that the UK has just 70 miles of high-speed track – less, apparently, than Morocco and Saudi Arabia. It is a "continuous embarrassment to British businesses promoting the UK overseas," they wrote.

No, it isn’t.

Saudi Arabia has an area over sixteen times that of England. Morocco is over three times bigger. Both boast extensive tracts of desert or mountain and few roads and settlements. England, by contrast, is an overpopulated little island whose road-map looks like a heavy-drinking farmer’s cheeks.

For all that, if this vast, Ozymandias-style project fulfilled government forecasts, we must pay the price – which includes, at current estimates, a cash outlay of £32.7 billion, or £1,700 per household (including, of course, many millions of households to which it is wholly irrelevant). If, as is projected, the link earns £46.9 billion, creates a million new jobs, facilitates international trade and closes the north-south divide, I for one must abandon my objections.

But I cannot recall a single comparable publicly-funded building project which did not go at least 25 percent over budget. Even the current quote fails to take into account the 22.5 miles of extra tunnels announced last week by Transport Secretary Justine Greening, the costs of extensive necessary enhancement of facilities and infrastructure at Euston, operating expenses and the £1.3 billion per annum required to service the resultant government debt.

As for the projected benefits, they are conjectural and improbable.  £11 billion are attributed to working time saved by the shorter journey-time. This is a ridiculous, outdated assessment. In an age of mobile phones, laptops and video-conferencing, it is far more important that business-travellers are guaranteed seats and reliable connections en route.

The Taxpayers' Alliance, meanwhile, has assessed that a rise in fares of 27% over inflation will be needed if projections are to be realised. ‘If that does not take place,’ they say, ‘revenue is likely to be at least £10bn lower.’

So that’s our putative £14 billion profit wiped out.  No attempt has been made to appraise the costs of compensation for inconvenience to season-ticket-holders during the decade of construction, nor can anyone accurately assess the social and economic cost to residents of communities along the line and those sidelined by this arrogant capital-to-subsidiary capital link. Services to cities in the process of regeneration such as Coventry and Stoke-on-Trent will suffer in consequence of HS2.

 

Travel time on the existing Euston-Birmingham line could be reduced to 50 minutes at a fraction of the cost. Overcrowding and restoration of the existing threadbare network is a far higher priority than a few minutes saved on a mainline artery. High Speed Trains in France and Spain have confirmed the dominance of already thriving capital cities and so reduced employment and engagement in smaller, needier communities.

Above all, perhaps, at a time of grave recession our government is proposing to spend a total of £33 billion of our money on a vast, essentially local vanity project which benefits only those on expense accounts and is opposed by 48 percent of the population and irrelevant to many more.

As an MEP travelling regularly between Birmingham, London and Brussels, I should be amongst the fortunate few to welcome this initiative.

I deplore it.   

    

The realities of High Speed Rail

I'm on the way to Strasbourg today, and took these pictures

This is the reality of high speed one, and of high speed rail!


I have been campaigning against HS2 for a long period of time now, all my work on this subject can be found on my website: http://yourmep.org/hs2.html

Some rather interesting snippets of information on HS2 are emerging,

this was tweeted by @HS2_Questions

Sunday Times today says #HS2 are spending £2.5m on 60 ("a carriage load") of spin doctors to counter "growing doubts about HS2 viability"

HS2 Questions has its own blog, which can be found here http://hs2questions.wordpress.com/





http://yourmep.org/hs2.html

An interesting snippet about HS1

Taken from yesterdays Metro,

"THE Channel Tunnel high speed rail link is carrying only two thirds of the international passenger numbers that were originally forecast, a spending watchdog says today. The £6.16 billion cost of the London to Folkestone HS1 line has exceeded the value of journey-time savings, according to the National Audit Office report. The line was built on the basis of 'hugely optimistic assumptions' about passenger figures when the government guaranteed the project debt in 1998, the report added. Plans for the second phase of the HS2 high speed rail project, which could include options for stations at Heathrow airport, will be published in the autumn, transport secretary Justine Greening said yesterday.

Coventry City FC

I spent Saturday at Coventry City FC. As part of my sponsorship package for David Bell I was given the use of a box for the day, and I took the opportunity to invite some of my friends from the Meriden RAID  camp and Anti-HS2 campaigners.

Some of you may or may not know that the Football League are working alongside the Help the Hospices charity, and all the 72 league clubs are working with their local hospices to raise money.

Mary Ann Evans Hospice and Myton Hospice are two of the chosen hospices that Coventry City are helping. Teams from those hospices were outside of the Ricoh arena on Saturday to collect money, and I dropped money into the buckets and had a quick picture with their furry mascots. I am always keen to support vital services such as these.



The match ended with a 1-1 scoreline, despite the fact the Blues and Coventry fans with me believed there would be a definate winner on the day. To the right is the picture of myself and my guests pitchside at the Ricoh arena. The Ricoh arena will be known as the City of Coventry Stadium this summer as Olympic football comes to the Midlands.

To find out more about the two local hospices that Coventry City are supporting this season, please visit www.MaryAnnEvans.org.uk and www.MytonHospice.co.uk

Leaflets, Kenilworth and HS2

My feelings on HS2 have been known for a very long time. I have openly campaigned against what I see as a white elephant project. This high speed link which eventually proposes to join Manchester and London is projected to cost £33billion, yet I fear that it will cost many more times than this.

Although the government has announced its intentions to carry on with this unnecessary vanity project, I will continue to oppose this and lobby MPs to think of alternatives to this project.

In both my latest booklet (pictured below) and in other literature produced in my office, I have put my objections to HS2 in writing. I have also been seen along the length of the proposed HS2 route with my AdVan with a poster saying No2HS2.

Tomorrow some of my team will be in Kenilworth delivering my latest booklet with my HS2 leaflet inserted. HS2 is a highly emotive issue in the area of Kenilworth, because as you'll see on this BBC map http://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/assets.dft.gov.uk/hs2-arp-00-dr-rw-04023.pdf the proposed route will impact on Kenilworth heavily.

The inside of the HS2 leaflet is below. If you would like to download it in its entireity, then a PDF is available here

 As I stated in my press release, sent out on 10th January,

“Upgrading the existing Euston to Birmingham International Rail Line would reduce travel times to 50 minutes and allow alternate stopping and flexible local services to be integrated into a faster service that also meets the commuting needs of the intermediate communities while still catering for rail freight.‘’
What isn’t mentioned much is the real concern that HS2 would lead to economic decline in intervening towns and cities including Coventry and Northampton. So in fact the project would almost certainly end up as a vacuum, sucking investment away from the West Midlands.

“There is a real danger of Birmingham becoming a subsidiary of London if the HS2 project goes ahead. The money would be better spent on further regeneration within the Midlands”.

If you would like to receive a copy of my HS2 leaflet or any other literature from my office, please contact my staff at NikkiMep@gmail.com

PRESS RELEASE: NIKKI SINCLAIRE SLAMS GOVERNMENT HS2 DECISION

NIKKI SINCLAIRE CONTINUES TO FIGHT AS DETRIMENTAL HS2 PROJECT GIVEN GREEN LIGHT BY GOVERNMENT

Issue Date: 10^th January 2011

Independent West Midlands MEP Nikki Sinclaire is promising to stand tall with local residents’ backing objections to HS2 against the government’s decision to approve the HS2 project.

Nikki’s call for the continued campaign against this project comes as Transport Secretary Justine Greening gives the green light to the scheme of which the final costs will run into tens of billions of pounds. As well as economic impact, HS2 threatens miles of green belt line and will see disruption for those living along the proposed route.

Nikki will be pushing for the government and the Midlands MPs to look at and the alternative options for improving capacity and journey times between Birmingham and London as the next phase of investment in upgrading the National Rail Network.

 The £32 billion Project including the £17 billion+ Birmingham to London High Speed 2 Rail Link is simply not financially viable and proposed would simply increase the costs of travel and fail to live up to the lofty promises espoused by the proponents of the scheme.  Nikki points to the failings of HS1 in Kent and the downgrading of local services there to support her argument that this project is a waste of money

 Nikki said ‘’The Government must stop wasting taxpayers’ money on a vanity project as the new route destroys homes and villages. It would cut a motorway wide swathe through our countryside to Birmingham International where a huge new car park would be required’’.

 “Upgrading the existing Euston to Birmingham International Rail Line would reduce travel times to 50 minutes and allow alternate stopping and flexible local services to be integrated into a faster service that also meets the commuting needs of the intermediate communities while still catering for rail freight.‘’

 What isn’t mentioned much is the real concern that HS2 would lead to economic decline in intervening towns and cities including Coventry and Northampton. So in fact the project would almost certainly end up as a vacuum, sucking investment away from the West Midlands.

 “There is a real danger of Birmingham becoming a subsidiary of London if the HS2 project goes ahead. The money would be better spent on further regeneration within the Midlands”.

 Nikki refutes the argument that the project would bring sustainable jobs to the Midlands. The job creation would be temporary and transitory putting extra strain on other public resources such as health, education and housing. “Real funding needs to be put into skill training for long term job creation”

ENDS

As featured on the BBC website:

and on the Birmingham Post website:
http://www.birminghampost.net/news/west-midlands-transport-news/2012/01/10/mixed-reaction-to-approval-of-hs2-high-speed-rail-link-65233-30092812/

Last Day of Consultation for HS2

Today has been an end to a very busy week campaigning against HS2. This week my AdVan has been upn and down the proposed route and today I was interviews by the local BBC, ITV  and BBC WM Radio.
Link here

Campaigning against HS2 in Birmingham

New Street, Birmingham

Birmingham City Council, Victoria Square

Selfridges, Birmingham

These photos from today show my AdVan espousing my opposition to HS2. You can read my views on HS2 by clicking on this link

 http://yourmep.org/hs2.html

UNECESSARY COUNCIL SPENDING ON HS2 PROPAGANDA

NIKKI CRITICISES UNECESSARY COUNCIL SPENDING ON HS2 PROPAGANDA

Nikki has hit back at council spending taxpayer’s money on political propaganda. She has criticised Birmingham City Council for placing signs around Birmingham which publicise their support for the HS2 scheme. Nikki has taken money out of her own pocket to fund banners to counter balance the HS2 ‘yes’ argument, which have been placed next to the councils signs. Nikki has always been vocal in her scepticisms of the HS2 project – a £17 billion scheme which will link Birmingham and London with a high speed rail network. Studies claim that HS2 will create 22,000 jobs and that increased use of rail travel will be good for the environment as people give up their cars for the daily commute, but Nikki is concerned about the effects on people’s homes and the countryside, stating, “The government must stop wasting tax payers money on a vanity project as the new route destroys homes and villages. It would cut a motorway wide swathe through our countryside to Birmingham International where a new car park would be required”. “ There is a real danger of Birmingham becoming a subsidiary of London if the HS2 project goes ahead. The money would be better spent on further regeneration within the Midlands”.