Pressure mounts in Lichfield fight against HS2 rail link

Lichfield City Council is to continue to fight the proposed HS2 high-speed rail line which could pass through the district.

The council's planning committee will on Thursday receive a report on the meeting held with Transport Secretary Philip Hammond at Lichfield Guildhall on October 5. Council leader Councillor David Smedley recommends that "continued pressure be brought to bear for the removal of the proposed HS2 viaduct section at Lichfield City."

The meeting on October 5 was attended by Lichfield MP Michael Fabricant, Tamworth MP Christopher Pincher, representatives from the local HS2 Action Group and from the city and district councils.

The report says that the main outcome of the meeting was that the Transport Secretary asked the HS2 representatives to look again at the 'viaduct' section of the route which runs by Boley Park and then through the Britannia Enterprise Park.

This section connects the HS2 line to the existing West Coast Main Line, but emerging proposals for the route of the high-speed link northwards could mean that an alternative route could be found which moved the line further from Lichfield.

Councillor Smedley, said, "It was a constructive meeting with the minister, at which the views of the objectors were put across very clearly and very strongly.

"The minister agreed to look again at the section of the route by Lichfield, but we must maintain the pressure so that our voice continues to be heard."

Campaigners fighting the proposed £60 billion link were today at Westminster to lobby MPs. Two members of the Lichfield Action Group are attending the national event organised by Andrea Leadsom, the Conservative MP for South Northamptonshire.

It is an opportunity for MPs and constituents to discuss the plans.

By John Corser