Staff at a wildlife charity are avoiding their own nature reserves because they feel intimidated by a railway project’s security staff.

HS2 Ltd, the company behind the new high-speed railway line under construction throughout the UK, filed for a route-wide injunction yesterday that would criminalise those peacefully protesting the project.

The legal bid aims to make it a criminal offence for anyone to enter what the company calls “HS2 land”, and also includes “slow walking in front of vehicles in the vicinity of the HS2 land.”

The Berkshire, Buckinghamshire & Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust (BBOWT) has long opposed HS2, not least because of the impact the project will have on its nature reserves.

The rail company took ownership of parts of the charity’s Calvert Jubilee reserve between Bicester and Buckingham in 2020 to facilitate the construction.

The charity say their nearby Finemere Wood reserve is heavily affected by the works, and staff and visitors must also now cross land under the HS2 banner to get into the Trust’s Bacombe Hill reserve near Wendover.

Security staff at HS2 have already been accused of being heavy-handed and some BBOWT members have avoided the nature reserves in question as a result.

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Matthew Stanton, Head of Planning and Advocacy for BBOWT, said: “This injunction would stamp on people’s right to protest peacefully against this environmental disaster.

“This is an affront to democracy, undermining people’s legal rights to make their voices heard.

“HS2 Ltd has continued to fail in its duties to protect nature and while we do not support illegal protest, people must be allowed to protest against this peacefully, without fear of breaking the law.

“Emboldening security staff with such an injunction, risks making the situation worse for our staff and visitors to our nature reserves.”

A spokesperson for HS2 said: “We can confirm that HS2 Ltd has applied to the High Court for an injunction along the HS2 line of route.

“If granted by the court, we hope that this injunction will act as a significant deterrent to often violent activists, and reduces the incidences of trespass and obstruction on our worksites.”

Mr Stanton pointed out that HS2’s fencing in some areas is so poor that visitors to some of the Trust’s nature reserves were able to freely wander onto HS2 land without realising it.

Further stating that if a visitor should accidentally venture onto HS2 land after an injunction is granted, they could face criminal proceedings.  

Mr Stanton said: “The proposed injunction goes too far and would not just stop illegal activities, but make peaceful protest illegal itself.”

 

Read more from this author

This story was written by Matthew Norman, he joined the team in 2022 as a Facebook community reporter.

Matthew covers Bicester and focuses on finding stories from diverse communities.

Get in touch with him by emailing: Matthew.norman@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter: @OxMailMattN1

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