Andrew Stephenson - The minister responsible for heading up the HS2 national rail project a guest at the East West West Rail & HS2 Join Working Group meeting on Monday.
The East West Rail & HS2 Joint Working Group is a joint initiative between three community boards: Buckingham & Villages, Haddenham & Waddesdon and Winslow & Villages. The areas covered by these boards are directly affected by the HS2 and/or East West Rail programmes.
The Working join meets monthly and is made up of 30 members, they are also attended by Greg Smith MP and representatives from Thames Valley Police and Buckinghamshire Council’s Programme Team.
The group was invited to put forward three questions to Mr Stephenson. The questions chosen addressed a range of topics from the impact of ongoing works on local areas, the spiralling costs and timescale of the project and measures in place to hold contractors and sub-contractors to account. Questions included concerns about the impact the project is having on the mental health and wellbeing of local residents, which board members highlighted, is taking its toll and queried how this would be addressed.
John Chilver, Chairman of the working group and Buckinghamshire Council Cabinet Member for Property & Assets said: “We are extremely grateful to the minister for taking time to speak to us on Monday evening. HS2 is a matter of real concern to many of those in our local area but sometimes they feel their voices are not being heard. Being able to speak directly to the minister responsible for overseeing the project through to completion is a real coup and gives us the opportunity to put the concerns of local people direct to the heart of government.”
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