HS2

[Compound2632]

18 minutes ago, corneliuslundie said:

But a bit insensitive of HS2 given the publicity about the delay to the Euston link. Rather rubbing salt in the wound.

 

Is it perhaps work done on a contract let before the decision to delay was taken?

 

As I've said before, my conspiracy theory is that delay is a purely political decision with the aim of maximising the unpopularity of the project.

Edited July 20, 2023 by Compound2632

[david.hill64]

Elsewhere it was reported this week that in the last 20 years over 15 million trees have been felled in Scotland to make way for wind turbines. Where are the complaints from the environmentalists about this?

 

 

[Compound2632]

1 hour ago, david.hill64 said:

Elsewhere it was reported this week that in the last 20 years over 15 million trees have been felled in Scotland to make way for wind turbines. Where are the complaints from the environmentalists about this?

 

Fake news.

[Bernard Lamb]

3 hours ago, david.hill64 said:

Elsewhere it was reported this week that in the last 20 years over 15 million trees have been felled in Scotland to make way for wind turbines. Where are the complaints from the environmentalists about this?

 

 

I would have thought that they would be shouting from the roof tops about the use of land being used for growing a sustainable crop. That is their policy is it not?

 

Back on topic.

Cyclists in the Chilterns have been in general anti HS2. With the opening of a cycle route using Small Dean Lane south of Wendover, part of a route through to Amersham, a sceme to avoid riding on the A413, seems to have received some fovourable comments.

Bernard

[melmerby]

1 hour ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Fake news.

Why do you say that?

 

[david.hill64]

1 hour ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Fake news.

Actually figures from the Forestry Commission and confirmed by the SNP government. Equivalent to 1700 trees per day.

[APOLLO]

Most days a long train of felled trees passes my house on the way from Carlisle to Chirk to be made into chipboard etc. I suppose the logs originate north of the border.

 

Deeply concerning news re the main HS2 man leaving, in fact the whole thing is becoming a deep concern, Eastern leg and Golborne spur cancelled, Euston & Manchester put back for years, and I've yet to see a detailed plan of the Northern Powerhouse fairy tale.

 

Come think of it the whole railway network has become a shambles due to on going strikes etc. Crazy news re freightliner selling it's GREEN (!!!) electric locos abroad and going all diesel because of the sky high electricity costs. 

 

And as we fly towards 2030 / 35, and a Carbon free 2050 we will need our railways more than ever, but perhaps we will all be locked into our 15 minute cities (AKA Oxford) by then, owning nothing but all of us wearing a "be happy" sickly grin with only the rich and privileged being allowed to travel (by HS2 from Wormwood Scrubs to Birmingham) !!

 

Government (etc), forward planning (lack of), brewery, & drinking sessions come to mind !!!!

 

Brit15

[Compound2632]

OK I've had a quick read up on this. The figure for trees felled in the course of building wind farms in Scotland is 13.9 million since 2020. Many of these are being replanted or renewed on site after construction is complete, and many are non-native conifers - not the best choice for carbon capture amongst many other reasons. It is a condition of planning conset for wind farms that an equivalent number of trees are replanted on site or elsewhere to compensate. This 13.9 million is less than 1% of the total number of trees in Scottish woodland. Over the same period 272 million trees have been planted.

Ref: https://www.energyvoice.com/renewables-energy-transition/225650/millions-of-trees-felled-to-make-way-for-north-of-scotland-wind-farms/ - some of the figures in this article apply specifically to the north of Scotland; I have used the figures given for Scotland as a whole.

 

So, as an environmentally woke person, I a pleased at this double whammy - increased electricity generation from renewable sources and the expansion of woodland, largely with more appropriate species than the sterile conifers of old.

 

Incidentally, England is now at its most woody since the mid-14th century.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forestry_in_the_United_Kingdom#/media/File:Woodland_as_a_percentage_of_land_area_in_England.png.

 

Edited July 22, 2023 by Compound2632

[david.hill64]

I suspected that there would be a requirement for replanting, but HS2 gets little or no credit for the planting it is doing to replace trees lost along the route.

[jamie92208]

5 minutes ago, david.hill64 said:

I suspected that there would be a requirement for replanting, but HS2 gets little or no credit for the planting it is doing to replace trees lost along the route.

I have seen in various posts wY back in this thread that there is a lot of tree planting by HS2 but they are being very careful about what is allowed near the line to reduce leaf fall problems. 

 

Jamir

[david.hill64]

1 minute ago, jamie92208 said:

I have seen in various posts wY back in this thread that there is a lot of tree planting by HS2 but they are being very careful about what is allowed near the line to reduce leaf fall problems. 

 

Jamir

Very sensible of them!

 

There seems to be a very wide range of trees being planted: HS2 lists oak, hazel, birch, holly, hawthorn, field maple, hornbeam, bird cherry, mountain ash, yew and spindle. The area covered will be more than double that of the removed woodland. 

[jamie92208]

One of my sons trained as a tree surgeon.  He was involved in felling trees on a bypass project that had seen protests. I think they went in in thecarly hours when everyone was asleep.  However he did comment that he planted far more trees than he ever cut down. 

 

Jamie

[corneliuslundie]

Bear in mind that any "forests" felled for wind turbines were probably commercial forests which would have been felled in due course anyway, almost certainly conifers. And no reason therefore why replacement "commercial" trees may not have been planted after installation is complete (though not immediately under the turbines of course). And in due course they too will be felled.

It is the same in mid Wales. Many forests are commercial enterprises, either Forestry Commission or private, and the trees are planted as a crop.

Hence the weekly "logs" on the Cambrian main line.

Jonathan

[jjb1970]

I worked at a power station which was receiving vast subsidies to make clean electricity which would save the trees by burning 1500T dry tonnes of wood a day.

[APOLLO]

 

Brit15

[corneliuslundie]

I have never been keen to buy "recycled toilet paper".

Sorry, seriously off topic.

J

[The Stationmaster]

4 hours ago, Bernard Lamb said:

I would have thought that they would be shouting from the roof tops about the use of land being used for growing a sustainable crop. That is their policy is it not?

 

Back on topic.

Cyclists in the Chilterns have been in general anti HS2. With the opening of a cycle route using Small Dean Lane south of Wendover, part of a route through to Amersham, a sceme to avoid riding on the A413, seems to have received some fovourable comments.

Bernard

Glad they like in view of all the money that was wasted creating it.  My fencing bloke did a lot of teh fencing for it and was not pnly messed about - at considerable expense to the scheme (the cost falls on HS2 according to what my contractor said) but another contractor put over 1 mile of fence in the wrong place and it all had to be removed and new gfencing erected in the correct place (cost to HS 2 again no doubt).  No wonder HS2 costs are spiralling when they're paying to fence cycle routes and 'someone' is getting itwrong

[lmsforever]

Back in the sixties we never went to Amersham on the A413  always via Rocky Lane and along the top road and down into Chesham and turn right for a mile and a half to Amersham ,not many cars and good scenery . A climb to start but we were fit cyclists and enjoyed it  would not want be on the roads now motorists are hateful  in the way they treat cyclists and walkers.

[melmerby]

13 minutes ago, lmsforever said:

would not want be on the roads now motorists are hateful  in the way they treat cyclists and walkers

Problem is there are too many inconsiderate cyclists and walkers which tars them all the same. (Many more cyclists than walkers IMHO)

 

An example from last week: I was driving around the lanes near me when I came across a pair of cyclists. They were riding two abreast and made sure they took up all the carriageway to the white line.

Due to the width of the road I could not pass at the safe distance.

They could've gone single file and I would then have had the proper clearance to pass safely but they didn't and had to wait until a short stretch where the road is a bit wider.

That's not the first but one of many where a little thought would save creating aggravation for other road users.

I find those with racing suits and streamlined sunglasses amongst the worse, seeming deliberately being unco-operative.

[Ian Hargrave]

Yes as motorists I’m sure we’ve all been frustrated by the antics of cycling enthusiasts either on main or country roads. Recently accessing my local NT estate,Calke Abbey,I’m confronting them cycling towards me in the wrong direction….it’s one way…..or simply gate crashing the entry check/pay point without stopping to pay or show their card. However,my son is one of those enthusiasts but not one who cycles in a gaggle and I’m now taking a certain parental oversight into his proposed venture next month,hoping he hasn’t underestimated the trials and difficulties that lie ahead & that he’s fully fit for it. At the beginning of August he plus bike are coming down from Newcastle on Tyne courtesy of XC to dad in Burton on Trent and the following morning joining with a friend and then cycling via a prescribed country byways route ( which he found on a website ) to Berwick on Tweed. 
 

Hence I have an open mind and a certain level of anxiety.

[corneliuslundie]

I have been cycling since I was 11 and still do a bit, though with less energy each year.

I agree that there are many badly behaved cyclists both those in "the gear" riding in flocks and youfs riding round town as though there is no other traffic. But there are also many inconsiderate motorists. And it still riles me that a government minister knocked down a cyclist who was on a cycle lane and got away scot free.

I now never cycle on main roads, even what one considers main in mid Wales.

Jonathan

[Bernard Lamb]

5 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

Glad they like in view of all the money that was wasted creating it.  My fencing bloke did a lot of teh fencing for it and was not pnly messed about - at considerable expense to the scheme (the cost falls on HS2 according to what my contractor said) but another contractor put over 1 mile of fence in the wrong place and it all had to be removed and new gfencing erected in the correct place (cost to HS 2 again no doubt).  No wonder HS2 costs are spiralling when they're paying to fence cycle routes and 'someone' is getting itwrong

Don't worry about a few quid on fencing. From what I hear the present arrangement is only temporary and when the viaduct has been completed a permanent version of the cycle route will be built. Up in a brewery is part of a phrase that comes to mind.

Bernard

[melmerby]

2 hours ago, corneliuslundie said:

I have been cycling since I was 11 and still do a bit, though with less energy each year.

Similar here

I used to cycle everywhere and hope I wasn't a nuisance to other road users, I haven't been out since covid and even before it was only around the "estate" to keep myself "fit"

Now I'm probably past it!😁

 

The last time I did any distance was when were in Keswick and I cycled to Threlkeld & back a few times along the railway footpath* (about 8 miles in all). Even there you would get nuisance cyclists who expected everyone else to get out of their way, including other cyclists.

 

* also a designated cycle route.

 

Back to HS2

[melmerby]

9 hours ago, david.hill64 said:

I suspected that there would be a requirement for replanting, but HS2 gets little or no credit for the planting it is doing to replace trees lost along the route.

It's actually planting a lot more than it's removing.

[Mark Saunders]

How is this for double standards, UK government to spend money on rail in Turkey!

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-announces-680m-for-new-high-speed-electric-railway-in-turkey#:~:text=Press release-,UK announces £680m for new high-speed electric railway