Ask Hillingdon’s MPs to Stop HS2 Construction Damaging Hillingdon's Environment

Our campaign is aimed at residents of Hillingdon. If your MP is listed below you'll be able to send them a message:

  • Steve Tuckwell - Uxbridge and South Ruislip
  • David Simmonds - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner
  • John McDonnell - Hayes and Harlington

If you live outside of this area you can still contact your MP about this important issue via writetothem.com

Here are some ideas for what to say:

As your constituent, I am writing to ask whether you agree with me that it is time to call for a halt to HS2 construction and enabling works so that issues regarding lawful protection of both water and nature can be resolved.


If you do agree, can I ask you to write to the Department of Transport, the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and the Prime Minister, on behalf of myself and the people of your constituency. If you don’t agree, perhaps I can ask you to explain why please.


Even those who think that HS2 is a good project in principle must surely be alarmed by recent events,

The recent discovery of high levels of Chromium-VI generation from cement and concrete activities in building the Colne Valley viaduct raise the spectre of the groundwater contamination scandal in the Mojave Desert that was the subject of the film Erin Brockovich. Chromium-VI was the villain there. This substance has long-term devastating consequences, and HS2, the Environment Agency and Affinity Water cannot afford to take any risks at all with its possible escape into the aquifer. The Green Party have recently reported on this and other recent pollution incidents.

Not quite as scary but equally disturbing is the report from the Wildlife Trusts that, contrary to their promises, HS2 are damaging more nature than they are putting back, essentially because they have not done the maths correctly. (Amongst other damning findings, they found that HS2 had undervalued wild space and habitats, and had valued the benefits of new habitat creation higher than those of existing habitats.) This clearly goes far wider than Hillingdon, but enough damage to wildlife habitats has been done in Hillingdon already.

On top of all this are repeated incidents of pools of foaming slurry appearing in the grounds of Ruislip Rugby Club caused by the tunnel boring machine hitting pre-existing boreholes, of which HS2 were apparently unaware. This surely raises renewed concerns about the risks of chemicals associated with the tunnel boring process leaking into a chalk aquifer that is already struggling to recover from long-term pollution from the Harefield landfill site.

In summary, I hope to hear from you what action you have taken, or propose to take, to address these serious problems with HS2.