Spiritual death at the sword of high-speed rail
SIR – If we cut up more English countryside, we will soon have nothing left in the lowlands except fragments of woods and fields between railways, motorways, flyovers, fly-unders, link roads, spur roads, trading estates and housing estates.
This will fulfil the Marxist prophecy that town and country will merge. At most, all that will be left will be garden cities like Welwyn and Letchworth.
Matthew d’ancona, in his thoughtful article (Comment, January 15), comes down in favour of High Speed 2 and defends David Cameron as a countryman and “the most devotedly rural occupant of No 10 since Sir Alec DouglasHome”. But a true countryman puts preservation first, and fits in the need for infrastructure and the built environment around that belief. Spiritual death follows the destruction of broad acres.
If there is a need for improved rail links and high-speed trains, why not run them alongside existing motorways? The Government should consult the Institution of Civil Engineers, which exists to provide ingenious solutions, and should ask them to plan, design and supervise upgrades and routes. James Lewis Harrow on the Hill, Middlesex SIR – Peter Kirby (Letters, January 15) says that “HS2 is part of a European high-speed railway initiative”. So how much – of our own money – is the EU going to give us back towards its astronomical cost?
Following the closure of so many of our post offices, as a direct result of an EU initiative to liberalise postal services across Europe and tackle postal monopolies, the further involvement of this shambolic and bankrupt outfit in our transport system is the best possible reason for having nothing to do with it. Richard Shaw Dunstable, Bedfordshire