Church opposes HS2 for ‘desecrating graves’
IN A SURPRISE move that made front page headlines in the press the Church of England has announced its opposition to the proposed new high speed train line (HS2) on the grounds that it will desecrate thousands of graves and shatter peace along its route.
The Archbishops’ Council has said that it is opposed to the line because human remains will not be ‘treated in a decent and reverent manner’. It says it cannot back the bill unless safeguards are introduced to provide safeguards for graveyards. It also says it is concerned that the noise and vibration from the line could cause some churches to close.
In a ‘humble petition’ to the House of Commons the Council asks that the Bill to enable HS2 to go ahead ‘not be allowed to pass as it stands’. The expansion of Euston Station is said to require the exhumation of more than 30,000 graves at St James’ Gardens, an C18th burial ground. A further 2,600 will have to be exhumed from a C12th graveyard at Stoke Mandeville, Bucks, and more graves will have to be disturbed in Birmingham to make way for a new terminal.
The petition states that ‘the clauses in the legislation do not make adequate provision to ensure that during and after the removal of human remains they are treated in a decent and reverent manner or that they are subsequently re-interred in consecrated ground’.
As well as graveyards the Church is also concerned about a number of churches along the line and about Chetwode St Peter in Buckinghamshire in particular. There are worries that this building will have to close because the line will be only 200 metres away. There will be significant noise and vibration that could damage this mediaeval church. The chancel and nave of the church probably date from about 1250 and a north chapel was added during the early C14th.
Local residents of the areas along the line of the HS2 are likely to welcome the support of the church. In Wendover and other Chiltern towns there is almost total opposition and local Conservative MPs have defied whips to vote against the measure. The Labour Party has given qualified approval with strong support coming from Labour councils in the NW and Ed Balls expressing reservations about the cost, put at £43 billion.
Church sources made clear that they were not totally opposed to HS2 but were petitioning for changes to the bill. Sir Tony Baldry, Second Estates Commissioner, called on HS2 ‘to engage and consider what they can do to mitigate the impact on churchyards and remains they may have to inter’.
‘It is a serious point and a matter of common decency that when people are buried in consecrated ground they expect their remains not to be disturbed except in truly exceptional circumstances’, he said.
The petition from the Church of England was published a week before many churches and cemeteries were getting ready to observe ‘Cherish Your Churchyard’ week which runs from June 7th to 15th. During the week communities are encouraged to put on events to get people to appreciate interesting green spaces that are often on their doorstep. The week is organised by the charity, Caring for God’s Acre, which has the Prince of Wales as its President.