OXFORD City Council’s planning officers, following advice from their “independent experts”, say that there should be no mitigation whatsoever against excessive vibration from fast, heavy freight through Upper Wolvercote, such as by a speed reduction (Residents Worry Over HS2 – Friday, June 5).

However, the “independent experts” supplying advice to the officers are Arup, the very same company who propose to use the Oxford-Bicester line to supply their HS2 Calvert depot with very heavy freight.

The major players in the Oxford-Bicester upgrade – Network Rail, DB Schenker, Arup, ERM, Atkins, Buckingham Group and Carillion – all attended the HS2 Supply Chain Conferences in 2014.

However, the knowledge of this freight usage of the Oxford-Bicester line was not revealed to residents or councillors.

When we approached the Office of the Rail Regulator about the ethics of people with a commercial interest in the development also acting as “independent experts” to the council on this project, they wrote saying it was down to a failure of “due diligence” on the part of the officers.

At the G7 summit, David Cameron will call for action on “the cancer of corruption” in organisations, businesses and governments around the world and condemn any “taboo” on pointing the finger at corrupt institutions.

In Oxford, there has been a failure to follow the written specifications of the planning inspector, a failure to follow the recommendations of the British Standard, a failure to consider any vulnerable properties near Wolvercote tunnel and a failure to validate the purely estimated figures for vibration. Not one single estimated vibration value has been validated! Why? Yet the council officers are still not insisting that the true vibrations must be monitored – as recommended by the inspector – after the whole project is finished and the services are fully running.

Appalling advice.

KEITH DANCEY
St Peter’s Road, Upper Wolvercote, Oxford