Campaigners battling to prevent a high speed rail line are celebrating after it was confirmed that Parliament will debate the issue.
The decision to discuss HS2 – which will cut through parts of Lichfield and the surrounding villages – was made after the Stop Hs2 group got 100,000 signatures on petitions.
The launch of a new e-petitions site by the Government had looked set to scupper any debate as many of the signatures were gained before the site was introduced.
However, the debate will now take place on October 13.
Stop HS2 coordinator Joe Rukin said:
“This small but highly significant victory. In terms of getting the debate, in the last month we thought we were there, then had it taken away from us, and now we have won. This is absolutely fantastic news and a real spur at what is turning into an extremely busy and positive time for the campaign.
“We will have a presence at the three main parties’ conferences, so will have been able to talk to far more MPs off the route about the problems with HS2 before this debate takes place. HS2 is a massively important issue and it is about time it is debated properly.
“Although the debate has now been secured, we are still calling on everyone who signed the original petition to sign the new one via the stophs2 website as the higher the number of signatures, the more politicians will realise how significant this issue is.
“It is now essential that everyone who is concerned about HS2, especially those who live off the route contact their MP explaining their opposition to HS2. A tool to assist people with contacting MPs can be found at www.highspeedrail.org.uk.”
