ANTI-HS2 campaigners have reacted with cautious optimism to a Spectator article that claimed a government minister had said the project was ‘effectively dead’.
The magazine claimed the project had been 'quietly dropped', something denied by the government.
The story said the government’s focus was moving to a third runway at Heathrow Airport rather than the high-speed rail plans.
Campaigners hope that if the government does scrap the plan, they do so publicly and do not just leave it sitting on the shelf.
Any uncertainty would still impact people trying to sell their home on the route, if the plan is not publicly pulled, in the same way the runway has blighted parts of the Heathrow Villages.
Keri Brennan, chairwoman of Hillingdon Against HS2, said: “Let’s hope Ross Clark (the Spectator journalist) is right and the project is heading for the sidings.
“But sooner and definitely, rather than as a weak, quiet, fade away at election time.”
Joe Rukin, of Stop HS2, added: “All we can do is cross our fingers and hope that the people who have the inside track, who meet with the politicians and have that knowledge, are getting their facts straight.
“We think they must be getting it right because the case for HS2 keeps falling apart, keeps getting worse.”
The Department for Transport said the claim about the project being dropped was nonsense, and there are no plans for a U-turn.
