The devil is in the detail, and although the full Environmental Impact Survey contained in the HS2 Hybrid Bill published on Monday did not contain any major surprises, there were some potential shocks for campaigners who ploughed through the report’s thousands of pages.

One of them – Doreen McIntyre, of Harefield Against HS2 – spent much of Monday in Westminster, at the parliamentary lobby, then sat up well into the night poring over the detail of the survey and its numerous diagrams.

“There are a few bits and pieces we did not know about,” she told the Gazette yesterday (Tuesday).

Among the things on which she wants clarification are the provision of noise abatement work for Harefield, the use of certain roads for construction traffic, and the potential problems from large amounts of dumped tunnel and cutting spoil – called ‘sustainable placement’ in the survey – to parts of Ickenham and Harefield.

The large ‘spoil’ areas to be eventually landscaped, close to Harvil Road, New Year’s Green Lane and Breakspear Road, could become a flood risk, according to Mrs McIntyre.

But like most campaigners, she reserved her most bitter criticism for the eight-week time frame the government has set for receipt of responses to a vast document with numerous sections and maps, made public so close to Christmas and with no clear avenues to access further information.

“The documents are technical but there is no accompanying narrative to explain them,” she said.

“The issue for me is where we would start trying to find someone to talk to about it, because they (HS2 Ltd) are not running any more roadshows.

“It is very daunting because we do not have a lot of time. There are lots of things that need an explanation now, and hundreds of thousands of people up and down the country who will be seeking answers.

“There are more questions than answers in this document.”

Lottie Jones, of Ruislip Against HS2, said: “We will be asking for more time to look at it, I suspect. It is typical that it has been deposited this close to Christmas.

“We need to all get together, pore over the pages and pages of detail, and work out what issues we need to petition on.

“The way (transport secretary) Patrick McLoughlin is saying spades will be in the ground in months is infuriating. The Hybrid Bill process could take years.”

One item in the document did provide a little light relief to Mrs McIntyre, however, if only through the blackest of humour.

An artist’s impression in the book of maps shows Hillingdon Outdoor Activities Centre, off Harvil Road, apparently carrying on with business as usual, despite a 3km viaduct running straight through the site – a site that will also be used for one of the numerous construction compounds that HS2 demands.

? The HS2 Ltd website, at www.hs2.org.uk , has details of how to present a petition to parliament before the Bill’s second reading, plus the Environmental Impact Statement, explanatory documents and maps.