HL: 201 To the House of Lords Session 2015-16 PETITION against the High Speed Rail (London - West Midlands) Bill THE PETITION OF Sue Paxton Declares that: 1. The petitioner is specially and directly adversely affected by Clauses 1-3, 31-35, 44-48, 51 , 52, 57-65. 2. Your petitioner The petitioner is a resident of Chetwode and lives at 4 School End, Chetwode, Buckingham, Bucks. ("your petitioner's property"). The proposed route for HS2 runs through the middle of Chetwode. Your petitioner's property is accessed by roads that will be used during construction. Your petitioner uses the The Green and School End daily when commuting to and from work and to access local services including shops, health services and the post office. The Green is scheduled to be diverted during construction. School End and the School End Overbridge are scheduled to be diverted and to be used by construction traffic during the period of construction of the works authorised by the Bill. Your petitioner also regularly uses the footpaths through Chetwode that will be diverted under the scheme. Your petitioner is likely to suffer inconvenience from the closure and diversion of roads and footpaths, and from the additional and diverted traffic on the routes that remain open. 3. Your petitioner's concerns Your petitioner favours a cut and cover ("Green") tunnel banked and landscaped over the top, starting to the south of the village of Chetwode and continuing through the high ground past Manthorne Farm, the Church of St Mary and St Nicholas, Chetwode village and School End to avoid the many injurious effects in the parish of Chetwode. The residents of Chetwode enjoy the full support of their local MP, the Church of England, Aylesbury Vale District Council and Buckinghamshire County Council in petitioning for such a change to the construction of the scheme, and would respectfully point out that a tunnel on the alignment proposed by the Promoter would relieve many of the injuries to residents of Chetwode, the Conservation Area, the Grade I listed Church and the local environment identified in the Environmental Statement. Accordingly, your petitioner seeks an undertaking from the Promoter that the railway will be placed in a cut and cover tunnel to minimise the local environmental impact, that corresponding changes will be made to all the subsidiary Works, and that the relevant Plans and Sections will be amended accordingly. The proposed railway will pose a major severance issue for wildlife due to the long stretch of cutting, but also due to the security fencing that will be installed along most of the planned route. The Chetwode cut and cover Tunnel proposed by your petitioner would provide some relief to this by allowing the migration of local resident species. Chetwode is a very tranquil parish. High noise levels from the operation of HS2 are predicted for a high percentage of residential properties in Chetwode after the mitigation currently proposed by the Promoter. The Promoter or the Nominated Undertaker should, at a very early stage, seek to agree a specification for further, more effective mitigation against the noise impacts. Chetwode is predicted to experience in-combination effects of significant visual and noise effects which, it is stated in the Environmental Statement, would have a major adverse effect. Current proposed mitigation of earthworks and noise barriers along just one side of the track is not sufficient. The Promoter should undertake further mitigation in the form of a cut and cover tunnel, banked and landscaped over the top. A cut and cover tunnel would be consistent with numerous Government statements of intent to minimize impact on communities and the environment. The Environmental Statement predicts that the Grade I listed Church of St Mary and St Nicholas in Chetwode will have its setting permanently changed by the movement of trains and the associated increase in noise. The Promoter or the Nominated Undertaker should, at a very early stage, seek to agree a specification for further, more effective mitigation against the impacts to the Church and its setting. Without more effective mitigation for both the Church and its officers, a substantial endowment will be needed to safeguard the future of this internationally important Church. Your petitioner is concerned about the effects that construction traffic will have on the single track country lanes currently proposed as a construction route. These lanes are not suitable for HGVs and are popular with dog walkers, cyclists and horse riders. There are no passing places and it is unsafe to take large amounts of construction traffic past the homes at School End where children live and play. Your petitioner regularly uses these roads and therefore will be directly affected by these issues. Your petitioner requests that School End is not used by HGVs at any time in order to decrease the negative impacts of construction. Your petitioners suggest that an alternative temporary construction route for HGVs is created along the trace of HS2. During construction, the nominated undertaker must maintain the quality of the roads in Chetwode parish, and after construction, the roads must be returned to their original size and character (no road widening, curb stones or urbanization of this rural parish), and all damage must be repaired by the nominated undertaker. Your petitioner is concerned about the landscape and visual impacts of the proposed new Overbridges carrying public roads over HS2 at The Green and School End, which will be clearly visible from rights of way and residential properties in Chetwode, and which introduce new infrastructure into a very rural landscape. Plus the noise of the trains could be a hazard for people riding or leading horses across the proposed Overbridges, due to the high sound level and its rapid onset. Your petitioner requests that, in order to minimise the impact of the proposal, the design of the scheme should be produced with meaningful consultation with the local community, to fit in with the surrounding environment and character of the area, using materials that mirror local buildings and materials. Additional screening must also be put in place and this must be maintained to a high standard. Your petitioner has set out in the preceding paragraphs just some of the harms that would befall residents, land owners, businesses, visitors, and the environment were the scheme to be constructed as proposed currently by the Promoter. These harms would be alleviated by constructing the entire section as a cut-and-cover tunnel, banked and landscaped over the top to prevent the requirement of lowering the route. There are other clauses and provisions of the Bill which, if passed into law as they now stand will prejudicially affect your petitioners and their rights, interests and property and for which no adequate provision is made to protect your petitioners. 4. Theprayer The petitioner therefore asks the House of Lords that he, or someone representing him in accordance with the rules and Standing Orders of the House, be given an opportunity to give evidence on all or some of the issues raised in this petition to the Select Committee which considersthis Bill. AND the petitioner remains, etc. each petitioner (or his Agent) MUST sign the petition here Sue Paxton 04/04/16 HL: 202 To the House of Lords Session 2015-16 PETITION against the High Speed Rail (London- West Midlands) Bill THE PETITION OF CLAIRE FALLOWFIELD Declares that: 1. The petitioner is specially and directly adversely affected by the whole Bill. 2. Your petitioner is an owner of a property in Little Kingshill, a village on the opposite side of the valley to the proposed route of the HS2 line through the Chiltern's Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The property is The Firs, Hare Lane, Little Kingshill, Bucks HP16 OEF. Your petitioner's concerns Your petitioner has lived in the Chilterns AONB throughout her life; being born and raised in Amersham and living for the past 30 years in Little Kingshill. Your petitioner has chosen to stay in this area because of the peace and beauty which can be found in the AONB. Your petitioner has always felt secure that this area would be protected by the government whose duty it is to stop development in AONB areas. Since the route for HS2 was announced, she has petitioned to stop the destruction of the Chilterns. Over the years more and more tunnelling has been introduced to protect Amersham and the Chilterns as far as South Heath but more tunnelling is required to see the job through so that the whole AONB is saved. The current design for HS2 will cause permanent damage to the environment and the beauty and peace will be destroyed and with it your petitioner's life style will be wholly and completely destroyed too. The landscape will be scarred and the peace disturbed every 90 seconds. HS2 Ltd propose to run 17 trains an hour but this will be in both directions ie 34 trains an hour. Although the train is on the opposite valley to the petitioner's home, experience shows that due to the position of her house, noise crosses the valley very easily and will be heard in her part of Little Kingshill. HS2 ltd have not been able to tell your petitioner what volume of sound will be heard. Your petitioner does not believe that any research has been carried out to provide any answers to this question. Your petitioner is not alone in enjoying walking in the Chilterns as a way of taking exercise and de­ stressing. This will not be possible should the train be built to its present design. Over 50 million people annually visit this area for recreational purposes and use the shops/restaurants in Great Missenden.