Cuddington Man Against HS2

According to the Bucks Herald, Colin Evered, 82, has had enough of the HS2 "fiasco" and is making his voice heard in a rather unusual way.

Earlier this year the Bucks Herald started out campaign against the HS2 development plans and, according to the newspaper, the response has been overwhelming with many of its readers sending signatures and support for the 'Enough is Enough' campaign.

Colin has taken it one step further with his support, not only has he signed the petition, he has recently had the paper's 'HS2 Enough Is Enough' logo embossed to the side of his van.

He was inspired to do so when he realised that there isn't really a clear reason, that he can see, for the amount of money and person-hours to be poured into the HS2 project.

Colin's objections to HS2 are not based on living on the proposed route, he says: "I live in Cuddington, which is not somewhere that the HS2 will pass through but I still feel strongly nonetheless.

"I own a farm here and rent out the sheds as units for small businesses, I'd hate to imagine having all that torn down, my livelihood, to make room for a train-line.

"I used to own a farm in Wendover. We went back recently to have a look at where I used to live. It was all just a building site. I had a bungalow there that was built in the 1950s and it used to be such a picturesque area — now it's just a ruin."

Speaking about what made him decide to display the logo on his van: "My gross objection to the whole idea is the damage it is going to do to the land — that's what made me decide to show my disgust.

"It doesn't matter if you live on the proposed route or not it's still damaging to the areas that surround us."

"I get a few toots from cars as I go about in the van. I've not gone out to display the van purposely just on my day to day travels, yet. I would like to take the van out to spread the word should the opportunity arise."

Colin went on to talk about the ever-increasing costs of HS2: "How can we be spending so much money on something and not have an end goal in sight?

"They are making guesses at the cost but they don't know — it could be miles off.

"I think Liddington runs away when the time comes for an MP to stand up and fight. Something needs to be done before it's too late and we lose more of the countryside."

Source: Dan Pullinger, Bucks Herald