More than 150 Ickenham residents have signed a petition against HS2's proposed haul road, ahead of a hearing at the House of Commons.
HS2 announced the £25m haul road, which cuts through Uxbridge Golf Course, and signalisation of Swakeleys roundabout to 'provide mitigation of the traffic impact in Ickenham resulting from the scheme'.
Members of the The Drive and Harefield Place Estate Residents Association will propose an alternative route for the road, arguing HS2's current solution will cause 'traffic chaos.'
The proposed haul road will connect with the eastbound slip road adjacent to the A40 at Swakeleys Road roundabout, pass parallel to The Drive, Ickenham, with the northern section cutting through Uxbridge Golf Course and land to the west of Harvil Road.
Hans Rader, who lives in Highfield Drive, off The Drive, is concerned about the noise and air pollution that will be produced.
He said: “The main issue is that they want two-way traffic going in and out for heavy lorries and to put traffic lights on the roundabout to facilitate that.
“Of course, there'll be complete traffic chaos.
“The second issue is that all those lorries are coming up a very steep hill from the golf course to join the A40, creating air pollution and noise pollution, and it also goes through an area of scientific interest.”
'Amenities will be lost'
Mr Rader believes HS2 should make use of an existing 'skip lane' instead.
He said: “This will be cheaper to utilise. It used to be a railway line that finished up in Uxbridge station near the high road and the track still runs all the way down to the High Street and could even be extended as a road to Uxbridge all the way from Harvil Road.
“HS2 want to remove the whole road again at the end of the exercise in nine years time.
“We want to have a permanent bypass as a result of it which is further away from The Drive and provides permanent access in future to the A40.”
Mr Rader is one of a total of 158 people to sign a petition who live in The Drive, Highfield Drive, and other parts of the Harefield Place estate including houses by the golf course.
Bob Birch, vice-chair of the Residents Association, has been in discussion with Nick Hurd MP and will present the case to the Select Committee on Monday, January 25.
He said: “If we don't do this, we'll have traffic chaos in Ickenham for the next seven – nine years.
“We'll also lose amenities such as Uxbridge Golf Course and there'll be safety issues – not only from pollution but from noise.
“They're talking about moving 1,480 lorries a day through Swakeleys roundabout and 1.2 million tonnes of materials over seven years and they're talking about spending £25m on putting a concrete haul road down and then ripping the thing up after nine years, which seems an awful waste of taxpayers money.”
The petitioners are urging members of the public to contact their MP or Hillingdon Council leader Cllr Ray Puddifoot to show support for their proposal and are inviting supporters to join them at the House of Commons on January 25.
