Can HS2 Be Salvaged?

Most of europeanconservative.com’s readership beyond the United Kingdom may be unaware that at present, and for some years now, destruction of vast swathes of rural England has been underway in the form of an enormous train line being constructed through the country’s centre. Originally the line was intended to go from London to Manchester via Birmingham. The actual cost of the line so dramatically exceeded the originally expected cost, however, that the section from Birmingham to Manchester was abandoned by the last government, making it just another track from London to the Midlands, of which there are already many. 

When the plan for HS2 was announced in 2011, we were told that £32 billion of government funds—which of course means taxpayer funds—would be spent on the project (which then included the Birmingham to Manchester line). 14 years later, the line from London to Birmingham remains unfinished, and the official anticipated final cost now ranges from £45 billion to £65 billion. But many analysts judge even that figure to be unrealistic, suggesting that around £90 billion is a more likely final figure. The primary reason given for increasing this robbery of the nation to procure ongoing wreckage of the countryside—damage which includes the felling of 25 ancient and thus irreplaceable woodlands—is ‘mismanagement.’

Interestingly, hatred of HS2 is not a Left vs. Right issue. Across political divisions, people are united in their disdain for it. It’s widely deemed an unnecessary project; with the current speed of development of transport technology, by the time the line is complete, the technology for which it is intended will likely be obsolete. So much money has gone into it that the government cannot bring itself to pull out of this terrible project that’s costing a near-unbelievable amount and is causing misery to so many as its path of destruction continues to cut its way through the landscape. 

Beautiful rural vistas have been ruined, habitats destroyed, ancient oaks felled. Recently, I drove through the beautiful town of Wendover, for which Edmund Burke was MP. It is a small, old-fashioned Home Counties town whose high street is lined with taverns and privately run delis. But the surrounding countryside of Wendover, like so many other towns and villages, looks like a warzone due to the carnage that HS2 has brought to the area.

I believe HS2 can be salvaged, but not as HS2. Perhaps it’s a mad idea, but just hear me out. It may seem crazy, but it’s a lot saner than continuing to drive another £50 billion or so into a project that is unnecessary and widely hated. So, here’s my solution: tear it up. Tear up the whole thing. Pull up the lines, remove the electrics, close down the whole project … and start planting. Let me be unambiguous: I’m saying that the entire line, cleared for construction from London to Birmingham, should be rewilded.

The project of rewilding HS2 could involve schools and community initiatives. Local communities could decide how they want to rewild areas of the line in their proximity. Fast-growing trees like birch and poplar could get the initiative going while the great trees we associate with our countryside grew slowly through, like oak, beech, ash, and sycamore. 

Jobs in woodland management, habitat protection, and landscaping would multiply. But the benefits regarding employment would not end there. What is really being proposed here is what would arguably be the greatest hiking trail in the world. Hikers and trekkers would come from all over to walk the trail from the capital to the nation’s second-largest city. Along one continuous pathway of 140 miles, walkers would hike through the most glorious scenery of the Home Counties, Oxfordshire, and into the Midlands. The hospitality industry would see a massive boon as inns and guesthouses were established along the route.

If you make a disastrous decision, the solution is not to stick with it. It may be painful, but at some point it becomes obvious that the right thing to do is fess up to your stupidity and take a different course. Observing the consequences of your own foolishness, you then only need to seek how good might come forth from evil, as the theologians say. Well, in this case, here’s a simple solution that nearly everyone will like, whether conservative or progressive: Opt for what’s green over what’s metallic and concrete; opt for what lives over what kills; opt for beauty over uglification. 

England’s countryside is famous across the world. Its majesty is the consequence not only of constant negotiation and effort between competing groups with diverse interests, and not only of the unique geography and climates of these isles, but also of a long sequence of historical accidents. It could have been otherwise, but it turned out as it did, and its glory has been celebrated over and over in song, literature, poetry, and film. 

The tragedy of HS2—this great rampage of destruction through an ancient and much treasured landscape—shouldn’t be played down. The fact that HS2 is greatly adding to the looming bankruptcy of the nation, and for the sake of transport technology that’s both unnecessary and soon to be obsolete, only adds insult to injury. The solution is simple: rewild the whole track. Perhaps such a choice could be a first step to a different political approach to rural England, one that will value this great treasure as a heritage to be conserved and not a mere resource to be squandered. Once destroyed, it will be gone forever. Let’s get planting.