Protest report blasts HS2 project

The report attacks many assumptions put forward in Sir David Higgins’ HS2 report in July justifying the line through Aston, Wales, Bramley and the Dearne Valley.

Compiled by Jonathan Pile, Simon Cross and Rachel E Cross of protest group Crofton Against HS2, The Higgins Report: Rushed, Harmful and Misleading blasts HS2’s claims about the number of expected demolitions, cost savings and more.

The 83-page report is aimed at Transport Secretary Chris Grayling who has to decide soon whether to put the proposed M18 eastern HS2 route — changed from one going through Meadowhall in the summer — out to consultation.

It comes shortly after Mr Grayling was urged to drop the route by Ed Miliband and other MPs.

The report urged Mr Grayling to scrap the route and claimed it was “unresearched”, did not increase connectivity, would be difficult to build and cause significant disruption and “destroy whole community areas”.

A Department for Transport spokesman said: “HS2 is a transformative project that will create much-needed extra capacity on the rail network, support growth and investment across the country and generate thousands of jobs.

“We recognise that the recommendations in Sir David Higgins’ report have caused concern for some communities along the newly proposed route, including in South Yorkshire, and HS2 Ltd has been working closely with them to provide support and better understand any concerns."

The Transport Secretary announced this week that the proposed route would be put to consultation.