The HS2 line should include a train station near Aylesbury, council chiefs have demanded in a new mitigation blueprint for Bucks.
The government dismissed calls for an intermediate station in the Vale when plans for HS2 were first announced as they said it would add to journey times from London to Birmingham.
However, since then the government has claimed the main reason for building HS2 is to add capacity to the rail network, with much less emphasis on speed, making the case for a station on the west side of Aylesbury stronger.
Bucks County Council’s Blueprint for Mitigation part two sets out a number of detailed demands should the £50bn line be built here.
The report states that ‘Buckinghamshire expects...a station on the HS2 line in the Aylesbury area’, adding: “With speed of the route now not a main priority, an additional station should not compromise the viability of the scheme and would provide an economic boost to the area.”
No detailed work has been done on where the station would be located.
The council also wants a new train station to be built in Steeple Claydon, most probably in Addison Road. This would sit on the east-west rail line due to be built between Aylesbury and Milton Keynes and enable HS2 staff working at the infrastructure maintenance depot in Calvert to commute in rather than clog up the roads during construction and operation.
Other demands include a Waddesdon relief road, an extended tunnel through Wendover, a country park in the Claydons, new land for leisure amenities at west Aylesbury, including Aylesbury Park Golf Club and Fairford Leys Sports Ground and the relocation of Bucks Goat Centre in Stoke Mandeville.
Council leader Martin Tett said the authority is still firmly against the principle of HS2,
“But should it go ahead we want to make sure we get the best possible mitigation. If we have to have the pain we should at least have some gain.”
The document will be examined by a select committee of ‘neutral’ MPs in the summer who can make recommendations to government for mitigation to be included in the plans.
Mr Tett said: “Some of the things we are asking for will push the cost up so there will be some tension there.”
But he added that ‘a measure of success for the first Blueprint’ is that some proposals have been incorporated into the scheme.
These include the reinstatement of Bacombe Lane, Wendover, over the green tunnel once construction is complete and the protection of various paths during and after construction.
FURTHER READING
{http://democracy.buckscc.gov.uk/documents/s47053/Blueprint_Part2.pdf|Blueprint document part two|link to Bucks County Council}