Latest News

HS2 have responded and provided answers to FAQs to complaints about the intended use of Dobbins Lane by HGV lorries to construct an Access Track and Spring Chamber in the fields at the end of the lane.

Here is the HS2 article for the December Wendover News.

Here is the HS2 article for the November Wendover News.

Here is the HS2 article for the October Wendover News.

Here is the HS2 article for the September Wendover News.

Here is the HS2 article for the August Wendover News.

Here is an article about the HS2 public meeting.

Here is the HS2 article for the July Wendover News.

Here is the Article in the July Wendover News with the views on HS2 of the candidates standing in the General Election.

Click here to view the slides from the open meeting on 28th June.

Here is the HS2 article for the June Wendover News.

Here is the HS2 article for the May Wendover News.

Here is a video showing the new Ellesborough Road diversion.

Here is the Wendover HS2 article for the April Wendover News.

Here is the Wendover HS2 article for the March Wendover News.

Here is the Wendover HS2 article for the February Wendover News and an article about the launch of the Wendover Dean viaduct.

HS2 have published some pictures of the initial WDV deck launch that finished on 11th January. And there’s a time-lapse video.

Here is the Wendover HS2 2024 outlook editorial article for the January Wendover News.

Here is the Wendover HS2 editorial article for the December Wendover News.

Here is the HS2 video of the completion of the first "hammerhead" pier of the Wendover Dean Viaduct.

Click here to view the slides from the open meeting on 24th November.

Here is the Wendover News front page editorial HS2 article for the November Wendover News.

Here is the Wendover HS2 article for the October Wendover News.

Here is the Wendover HS2 article for the September Wendover News which this month features the EKFB proposals for managing water flows.

Here is HS2's video showing the conveyor transporting material over the A413.

Here is the Wendover HS2 article for the August Wendover News.

Here is the Wendover HS2 article for the July Wendover News.

This is EKFB’s animation of the Small Dean viaduct construction….

Nash Lee Road and Nash Lee Lane temporary diversions opened.

HS2 issued a North Chilterns local area update newsletter.

HS2 released local drone video overview, from Great Missenden to Stoke Mandeville.

Drone footage of the Small Dean Conveyor.

Here is the Wendover HS2 article for the June Wendover News.

Ellesborough Road will generally be closed between 15th May and 1st July to allow rerouting of utility services onto the temporary diversion road. However it should be open between 27th May to 4th June while the Nash Lee Road diversion is brought into use to allow access to Terrick and Princes Risborough. Single Lane working can also be expected on the A413 at Small Dean overnight and at weekends as preparations are made for its temporary diversion.

The next EKFB “Meet the Team” public exhibition has been announced on June 17th in the Jefcote room at Lindengate (next to Dobbies World’s End Garden Centre), 15:00 to 19:00.

The next EKFB Mobile Information Centre visit to Wendover Manor Waste (outside Budgens) will be on 12th July, 10:00 to 15:00.

Here is the Wendover HS2 article for the May Wendover News and and some recent construction photographs in place of the EKFB update.

The Small Dean Schedule 17 planning details have been approved by Bucks Council, completing the set of designs from Great Missenden to Aylesbury.

On Tuesday 28th March from 3pm – 7pm EKFB are holding a drop in event at St Anne’s Church Hall on Aylesbury Road in Wendover. This event will be attended by their project managers and engineers who are working on the construction of HS2 so they will have representation from the teams constructing the Small Dean Viaduct over the A413 London Road and the Wendover Green Tunnel. Here is the event invitation with further information.

Here is the Wendover HS2 article for the April Wendover News.

Here is the EKFB HS2 Update North Chilterns Area January 2023.

Here is the Wendover HS2 article for the March Wendover News.

The "Schedule 17" Planning submission for the Small Dean Viaduct and Embankment is available here.

Here is the Wendover HS2 article for the February Wendover News.

This is the HS2 Update for the Chiltern Society (Keith Hoffmeister) January 2023 update. Aerial shots of Wendover section from 33 minutes in…

Here is the Wendover HS2 article for the January Wendover News.

EKFB will be in Wendover on Manor Waste, on 14th December (10:00 am to 3:00 pm). NOW CANCELLED

A video explaining the work on the A413 over Christmas / New Year is available here.

Here is the Wendover HS2 article for the December Wendover News.

Here is the HS2 Local Environmental Management Plan for Buckinghamshire Council.

Here is the Wendover HS2 article for the November Wendover News.

The Parish Council HS2 working group, together with Wendover HS2MAG has considered the impacts of the green tunnel and has sent in a formal response to the scheme. The Council views these as a well reasoned set of concerned that consider the many of the impacts covering Wendover's amenity and environment including:

• The noise demonstration report
• The drainage assessment report including impacts on the canal and Weston Turville SSSI
• The cricket ground
• The rights of way

Click here to view the full response

Here is some EKFB drone footage on HS2 works taking place in the area.

Here is the Wendover HS2 article for the October Wendover News.

The Schedule 17 proposals for north Wendover have now been published. All the documents are available on the Bucks Councip planning portal website. The noise demonstration report is available here. EKFB have removed the (largely ineffective) curved noise barrier in the original proposal and put forward a design for north Wendover where the cutting noise protection is provided only by earthworks. This still leaves 228 homes exposed to excess noise. The improvement for 78 homes compared with the original Environmental Statement is largely due to changes in the train specification rather than anything they have done. They have considered a number of noise barrier options which would improve the situation, but have rejected these on the grounds that they do not consider the relevant HS2 noise requirement (backed up by an Undertaking and Assurance) to be sufficiently important! They also quote the visual impact of barriers, even though a (say) 5m barrier along the bottom of a 10m cutting is invisible from almost everywhere.

The valley at Grove Farm is being levelled out to form the “Haul Road” north towards Wendover, on what will become the Small Dean Embankment (see photos showing now and earlier this year)

The "Schedule 17" Planning submission for the Green Tunnel and North Cutting is available here.

Here is the Wendover HS2 article for the September Wendover News.

The recent "The Living and the Dead - an Anglo-Saxon cemetery near Wendover, Bucks" webinar is now available to view here.

The new HS2 Ltd Corporate Plan 2022-25 has details of what EKFB are expected to do in our area.

Keith Hoffmeister (of The Chiltern Society) has put his latest presentation on "HS2 in the Chilterns" up onto YouTube. It's about an hour long but you can skip to the Wendover overview which starts 50 minutes in.

Here is the Wendover HS2 article for the August Wendover News.

Here is the Wendover HS2 article for the July Wendover News.

The EKFB van is due to be on the Wendover Manor Waste on 29th June so you can ask them your questions.

HS2 will be taking part in the CBA Festival of Archaeology, the UK’s biggest annual celebration of archaeology. There is more information on what has been discovered near Wendover and a video featuring Dan Snow.

This link is a video produced by HS2 to explain the construction of a green tunnel, such as is being built in Wendover.

Here is the Wendover HS2 article for the June Wendover News.

Here is the HS2 Construction Noise and Vibration Monthly Report – March 2022 for Buckinghamshire including Ellesborough Road data on pages 89 to 91.

Here is the Wendover HS2 article for the May Wendover News.

Here is the Wendover HS2 article for the April Wendover News.

There will be a HS2 mobile information centre on Manor Waste on Tuesday 29th March from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm. Details are here.

This is the spring construction lookahead from HS2.

Here is the Wendover HS2 article for the March Wendover News.

This is the HS2 Update for the Chiltern Society (Keith Hoffmeister) January 2022 update. Aerial shots of Wendover section from 40 minutes in…

Here is the Wendover HS2 article for the February Wendover News.

There will be Christmas sheet piling and bridge demolition works on the rail line at Small Dean. The workforce will mobilise at midnight on Christmas Day however no works will commence until after the midnight mass has finished and the congregation have made their way home. Works will continue for 24 hours a day until 29th Dec when the rail line will reopen, they will then start again at about 1am on 1st January until 3rd January. Although the works do generate noise, EKFB will be using the least noisy method of work and do everything they can to reduce the impact. They will have noise monitors positioned at various locations and their noise monitoring contractor will be undertaking attending monitoring at various locations to ensure they do not exceed permitted limits.

The HS2 North Chilterns Area Newsletter covers works expected in the next few months including:

• A413 Watermain protection works south of Wendover;
• Demolition of properties on Ellesborough Road;
• Start of temporary road diversions for Nash Lee Road, Nash, Lee Lane, Ellesborough Road and Bacombe lane, Wendover;
• Piling and preliminary works for our main structures including the Wendover Dean Viaduct and the Small Dean Viaduct;

Here is the Wendover HS2 article for the January Wendover News.

Here is the Wendover HS2 article for the December Wendover News.

The Misbourne Environmental Protection (MEP) campaign group will appear in the High Court today, October 28, asking for judicial review of the consent given by the Environment Agency for HS2's twin bore tunnel under the Chiltern hills.

Here is the Wendover HS2 article for the November Wendover News.

HS2/EKFB are planning to close a number of rights of way in Wendover. The intention is to close all the footpaths along the route of the track which give access to Coombe Hill from the station and from as far along as Nash Lee Road. This is being done with very little notice. Most of the PRoWs scheduled for closure do not have acceptable arrangements for alternative routes, and in many cases where alternatives are suggested, these involve unacceptable detours either for reasons of additional distance or unsafe walking along main roads such as Ellesborough Road. This is counter to the original Code of Construction Practice and HS2's original submission to Parliament. WHS2 seeks immediate action from the appropriate bodies to re-examine the reasons for this conclusion and to help redesign the plans for the closures in a way which demonstrates more sympathy with the needs and wishes of the community and its visitors.

This image shows hedgerow clearance in Bacombe Lane.

Following up on his visit in July, Andrew Stephenson (Minister of State for Transport) wrote back to Rob Butler rejecting our proposals for a retained cutting in north Wendover. Ron Peterson has sent a reply on behalf of WHS2, pointing out the mistakes in Andrew Stephenson's letter and reiterating our case.

Align have issued a notice of A413 overnight road closures, Little Missenden with night closures from Monday 18th October to Saturday 23rd October and daytime lane closure from 19th October to 8th November.

HS2 has been granted its appeal to increase traffic on the A413 by up to 800 HGVs a day at unknown times. In March, Bucks Council refused HS2's planning submission of lorry routes (known as a Schedule 17 submission) for the Wendover Dean Viaduct because they had not provided enough detail to allow the impact on traffic congestion on the A413 and surrounding roads to be predicted. This link explains the Bucks Council policy. HS2 appealed against the decision to the Planning Inspectorate, which is a Government body that deals with a variety of planning appeals. The Planning Inspector granted HS2’s appeal, on the grounds that they had provided some information, which was all they were obliged to do according to the HS2 Bill, and that Buckinghamshire Council had not suggested other roads that the lorries could use instead of the A413.

A cross-party report published today said there was still the "risk of cost increases" for the high-speed railway, which could push the budget beyond the £98 billion maximum estimate calculated by the government early last year.

A Westminster Hall debate was held on 13th September 2021 to discuss whether to halt all HS2 works and repeal HS2 legislation. The debate was prompted by the Petitions Committee when a Gov.uk petition – kick-started last year by Chris Packham – reached over 150,000 signatures. You can watch the debate online on the UK Parliament YouTube channel or read the transcript.

There is a House of Commons library report on HS2 available here.

Two key figures with close relations to HS2 have just released a video alleging fraud and corruption throughout the project. You can watch the video here. You can bring this to the attention of your MP by filling in the form on their website, if possible this weekend so they see this before the debate on Monday.

Natural England has been criticised for failing to protect Jones Hill Wood. They have written a report giving a detailed defence of their granting the licence on 30th June for tree felling there. Their main focus is on the welfare of the bat population and they have set out the necessary precautions to minimise the effect of the tree felling and clearance work on the bats. The felling of 0.7 hectares of woodland will result in the loss of 19 trees with potential roosting features. 24 replacement roosting features will be provided, either boxes or other salvaged roosting features.

The bats will be carefully removed and released or placed in their new roosting sites. To mitigate the effect on other aspects of the environment, 3.2 ha of woodland habitat and fruit trees will be planted on a neighbouring site. New hedgerows with grassy margins will be planted. There will be post mitigation monitoring. The WHS2 Mitigation Group will be checking on progress.

Here is the Wendover HS2 article for the September Wendover News.

Greg Smith, MP for Buckingham, Princes Risborough, Winslow & surrounding villages, has posted an article on his website decscribing the problems HS2 construction has caused in his constituency.

The Infrastructure and Projects Authority have published their Annual Report on Major Projects 2020-21.

HS2 have published their Corporate Plan 2021-2024.

HS2 announces new landmark as 700,000 trees planted and over 100 new habitats thriving on Phase One of the project.

Here is the Wendover HS2 article for the August Wendover News.

EKFB have issued a July 2021 update for the North Chilterns Area.

Bucks Council have issued a July HS2 update.

Rob Butler, our MP, chaired a meeting attended by the Chairman of Wendover Parish Council, Cllr Sheila Bulpett, the Chairman of Wendover HS2 Action Group, Ron Petersen, and the Rev Sally Moring, at St Mary’s Church, Wendover. They all demanded much better mitigation for the village. Please see the full report here.

Here is the Wendover HS2 article for the July Wendover News.

The Chiltern Society has a free, online follow-up presentation about HS2 across the Chilterns on 10 July from 10.30am-12noon. Sign up here

There is an invitation to the field museum at St Mary’s Church in Stoke Mandeville, where you will be able to discover how archaeologists have started to unlock almost 900 years of history. Details are available here

HS2 have published a Guide to temporary rehousing and the Prolonged Disruption Compensation scheme.

Here is the Wendover HS2 article for the June Wendover News.

HS2 will be closing the A413 at Little Missenden from 9pm Friday 18th June to 5am Monday 21st June 2021. Fill details are here

Here is the Wendover HS2 article for the May Wendover News.

Here is the Wendover HS2 article for the April Wendover News.

This report spells out the damage to wildlife which is being done by HS2 in Jones Hill Wood.

We have written to our MP, Rob Butler a letter in reply to a letter received from Andrew Stephenson, the HS2 minister, in which we set out our position on the need for better mitigation for Wendover.

A meeting was held with Bucks Council (BC) on 10th February, to review how Wendover HS2 might be able to work with BC during the coming months when it is expected that a number of proposals will be put forward by EKFB for approval under the Schedule 17(3) process. Links are provided here to the slides presented and the notes of the meeting.

Lord Berkely has written a letter explaining why HS2 should not now go ahead - there is an alternative.

EKFB are holding a webinar 'HS2 in Wendover - Community Area Update' on Thursday 18th February at 6pm. You can register here.

Here is the February E update from Buckinghamshire Council

North Cutting Pump Test Bore Hole under construction showing water escape (video, left). If you look closely there's water gushing out of the hole....

There is a new petition backed by Chris Packham to "Stop work on HS2 immediately and hold a new vote to repeal the legislation". You can see his video and sign here.

A report has been compiled about how HS2 and their contractors have acted as bad neighbours and disregarded their legal obligations in the Chilterns AONB.

The Chiltern Society is compiling a photo diary of the damage HS2 is doing to the AONB.

This month saw us have three technical meetings with HS2 their contractors and Bucks Council to demonstrate to them flaws is the HS2 sound estimates. These meetings culminated in a briefing for our MP for his coming meeting with the HS2 minister.

In order to evaluate water movement from the aquifer we placed water flow monitors in streams around Wendover (see picture). This will enable us to provide additional flow information to the HS2 monitoring, which is only happening on a limited basis, for when we discuss this subject with them in the New Year.

All HS2 designs involve the HS2 Independent Design Panel, their work is described in their Handbook.

EKFB/HS2 have now published a Traffic Information Guide (Great Missenden to Stoke Mandeville).

A contract has now been agreed for detailed design of civil engineering work on HS2.

A trip to France provided the inspiration for two prominent structures that will carry High Speed 2 (HS2) trains through Buckinghamshire.

EKFB have issued a December 2020 update for the North Chilterns Area. This includes details of how to get on the January EKFB webinar about Wendover works.

EKFB have issued details of utility trial holes, which includes some road traffic management.

Here are the slides from a EKFB presentation to the Bucks Council Wendover Community Board in November, and the associated presentation itself on YouTube.