Protesters in Lichfield
Protesters in Lichfield

Protests against the construction of HS2 will pose new challenges for emergency services in the coming years, Staffordshire Chief Fire Officer has said.

Campaigners against the high speed rail line have previously targeted sites around Lichfield during the preparatory work for the project.

Recent weeks have also seen work taking place to evict protesters from camps elsewhere in Staffordshire.

Chief Fire Officer Rob Barber told a meeting of Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service Public Performance said the construction and eventual operation of high speed would pose new challenges for emergency services.

“The HS2 programme is going to have an impact on the county all the way through.

“We know that creates different risks for us as a fire and rescue service, whether it’s through supporting our police colleagues at protester sites, through the construction phase or right through to the delivery phase when the line’s running.

“We’ve got to be aware of that and we’ve got to make sure that we’re aware of the new risk that that’s creating. We’re going to have tunnels within the county – not protester sites but tunnels through the line we haven’t got currently – and we’ve got to be ready and we’ve got to have the appropriate resources to deal with that.

“Through the construction phase, which I believe is about five to seven years in length, we’re going to have large movements of HGVs throughout the county in some very rural locations. When you’ve got up to 1,500 additional HGV movements per day the infrastructure is going to be affected.

“The frustration of drivers being in long queues is going to mean that people do some silly things in vehicles and then we’re turned out to road traffic collisions. We need to think about that as we go through the Safer Roads Partnership and we’re making sure we have an eye on that.

“We’re fully involved with the HS2 programme. We have officers that are embedded in terms of development of the plans, but it’s one we need to keep focused on because it’s going to ebb and flow in terms of the impact within Staffordshire.”

Chief Fire Officer Rob Barber

Staffordshire Commissioner Ben Adams also told the meeting that those who want to make their voices heard about HS2 should do so in a safe manner.

“I absolutely respect people’s right to protest. But please do it safely and not exhaust the capacity of services to look after them.

“HS2 is going to be an issue for Staffordshire for several years”

Staffordshire Commissioner Ben Adams
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Kumar
1 year ago

Hs2 is a complete destruction of our countryside, and it’s causing heartache for thousands of people up and down this country. Nobody seems to be listening. The existing rail links are fine ,,if anything it can be improved . It makes me sad .
Many thanks