HS2 could cause ‘devastating’ damage to protected wildlife sites

Article summary

The Wildlife Trusts have raised concerns about the environmental damage the High Speed 2 (HS2) railway could pose, saying ‘the proposed route of HS2 presents a significant risk to five internationally designated protected wildlife sites[…]which support internationally significant habitats and species assemblages’. These sites, and the species within them, are protected by law, but the Wildlife Trusts say that HS2 will sever ecological connectivity and fragment habitats within them. The Wildlife Trusts anticipate that HS2 will ‘impact a wide range of wildlife significantly, including a number of scarce and protected species at risk from permanently adverse impacts on their conservation status,[…]contrary to government biodiversity policies and international obligations, but also to European Law’.