Courier Countryside Column for 20th
December
Celebrating the speed of
change
Why is it that, as a nation, we are so resistant to change?
I was reflecting on the question as we were zipping under the Channel from
Kent to the Pas-de-Calais in order to do some Christmas shopping and stock up
the wine cellar.
It’s so easy. A short drive to Folkestone. A
wait of just a few minutes before putting the car on the train. A journey just
long enough to write a shopping list, and before we knew it we were having
lunch in one of the many restaurants in Calais.
It’s only been open 20 years, but it seems almost impossible to recall
when the Tunnel wasn’t there.
But do you remember the fuss and opposition to the building of it? Arguments ranging from national security to desecration
of the English countryside were deployed.
Long parliamentary speeches were unleashed. Newspapers were bombarded
with letters. And that was in 1802 when it was first mooted! Very little had changed by 1986 when the
British and French governments finally approved it. I remember numerous stories propagated by the
naysayers before its eventual opening in 1994.
Of course I was sympathetic to those few people whose homes would be affected
by the construction. And, yes, the
concrete hideosity of the Folkestone terminal, where before had been green
fields, was to be lamented. But millions
of people annually benefit from the service. And it brings millions of euros
into rural Kent. Increasingly I hear
French spoken in our village as Gallic tourists sample our cuisine and
beverages and stay in our B&Bs.
Sure, some might have come on the ferries, but the speed and ease of the
tunnel has undoubtedly attracted many more visitors.
I also appreciate the convenience of boarding the Eurostar in Ashford
and arriving in Paris just 1 hour and 52 minutes later. And from Paris the TGV high-speed network
rushes you throughout the country. In England it stretches only from the coast
to St Pancras. And that was hard enough
to get built. But now it’s there I really don’t feel we’ve lost anything. In fact I like watching the trains snaking
through my county and leaving the M2 traffic standing.
So when asked if I’m in favour of HS2 to the Midlands and the North, I
say ‘bring it on’. In 20 years we’ll
wonder what all the fuss was about.
No, no, no. HS2 may one day well be something we can't imagine life without but hat doesn't mean it's necessary or desirable. Spending 40 billion in order to shave twenty minutes off a train ride seems rather excessive, especially when, even now, technology exists that obviates the need for such business travel. Goodness knows where we'll be with that come 2035 when, no doubt after many delays and cost escalations, this white elephant finally joins the circus that is the British railway "system".
ReplyDelete