HS2 woodland protest: four arrested for blocking worksite access

Four protesters were arrested in Great Missenden (Buckinghamshire) on April 7, after they tried to block a lane being used by vehicles accessing HS2 worksites.

One of the protestors, a woman in her mid-20s called Pigeon, was involved in a stand-off for several hours with bailiffs.

Perched in a tree in Jones’ Hill Wood, she told the BBC that she was there because the legal system is not designed to protect the environment and that HS2 isn’t encouraging rail travel.

“If it were, then it would be making it cheaper and more accessible than car travel,” she told the BBC. She claimed the new railway will be more expensive and won’t be carbon-neutral for 120 years.

An HS2 spokesman told RAIL that the ongoing work is to clear part of the Jones’ Hill Wood (it claims less than half) to make way for construction of the new railway. He said that some 0.7 hectares is being felled, but that this is in line with a licence from Natural England, and that 1.1 hectares is being retained.

“HS2 is creating more than 33 square kilometres of new woodland, wildlife and river habitats alongside the line from London to the West Midlands - the equivalent of 23 new Hyde Parks lining the spine of the country,” he said.

“Across the whole of Phase 1 alone, we are planting up to seven million trees and shrubs and will leave behind 30% more wildlife habitats than exist currently.

“An area of 4.1 hectares of woodland will be created near Jones’ Hill Wood, with 22,000 trees being planted in the area - including native species such as Rowan, Birch and Guelder-rose, helping to increase connectivity with nearby Rushmoor Wood.”

Protesters had also been evicted from the site last October.

All trees are being felled in the presence of experienced/licenced bat ecologists who will check for any potential roost feature for bats prior to work commencing.

The BBC claimed in its online report that Jones’ Hill Wood, where other protesters were located, had been the inspiration for author Roald Dahl.

However, the Roald Dahl Museum states that the nearby Angling Spring Wood was actually where he got his inspiration when out walking.

HS2 progress: see pages 20-21.