HS2 = AIRPORT NOISE! - A letter to the papers

Monday, June 27 2011

I understand that Birmingham Council is irritated by the "NO" banners erected and paid for by my colleague Nikki Sinclaire MEP and placed next to the Council banners proclaiming "YES, TO HS2" at ratepayers' expense!

Quicker trains will mean no time to prepare for meetings via the lap top or cell phone and all that valuable work time on the train will be lost. No doubt desks on Euston Station will be the answer? Speed kills, but speed also costs in terms of energy (e=mc2) and is not "green."

Thanks to HS2 (likely cost £35 billion plus) Birmingham Airport will become a major London Airport more than rivalling Gatwick! Good for Airport expansion plans but bad for local noise levels and bad for the Region, which will be sidelined in favour of London.

Does the Council realise that HS2 means Birmingham will become a London commuter town? The impact will mean wage rates may well rise but fragile local industry cannot afford higher wage rates to match employees' higher mortgages and they will close. Good job the Council gets rates on empty property to pay for banners!

Ban banners and ban HS2 I say, saving £35 billion, saving local industry, saving the Staffordshire and Warwickshire countryside and saving the cost of banners.

Published in:

• Birmingham Post
• Solihull News
• Express & Star