HS2 is spending more than £100m on a “shed” to protect bats on part of the line, despite “no evidence of high-speed trains interfering with bats”, the head of the project company said.
Sir John Thompson said the 1km (0.6 mile) curved structure at Sheephouse Wood in Buckinghamshire would create a barrier so the creatures could fly over the railway without being affected by passing trains, as all bats are legally protected in the UK.
Thompson said at the Rail Industry Association’s annual conference in London on Thursday HS2 The building is called a ‘shed’, and is being built to satisfy the Whitehall advisory body, Natural England.
The “shed” will allow bats to fly over the structure. Pic: PA
The structure extends for about 1 km (0.6 mi). Pic: PA
He warned his fans they wouldn’t believe it, but the shed “costs more than £100 million to protect the bats in this forest”.
He said it was an example of the “real problem” the UK faces in completing major infrastructure projects, explaining that the government-owned company had to obtain 8,276 approvals from other public bodies related to planning, transport and the environment to build the first phase. Railway between the capital and Birmingham.
“People say you’re over budget,” he said, “but did people think about the bat (when setting the budget)?
“I’m being corny about this but I’m trying to illustrate one example of 8,276 of these (approvals).”
Other more expensive options were also considered while the High Speed Two (London He said the law was going through parliament, including digging a tunnel and rerouting the railway line away from the forest.
Sir John said that even after Natural England approved the design, the company had to spend “hundreds of thousands of pounds” on lawyers and environmental specialists because the local council did not approve the work.
“In the end, I got planning permission by bypassing the leader of Buckinghamshire Council,” he explained.
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Sir John, who has led the project since Mark Thurston left his role as chief executive in September 2023, warned in January that the estimated cost of the first phase had risen to as much as £66.6 billion.
In 2013, the cost of HS2 was estimated at £37.5 billion (in 2009 prices) for the entire planned network, including the now-cancelled expansions from Birmingham to both Manchester and Leeds.