As specific plans for HS2 were announced, protestors quickly sprang into action, forming campaigning groups and arguing for the line to be fundamentally re-thought. They saw HS2 as an industrial eyesore rammed through the heart of some of Britain’s most beautiful countryside. Communities all along the proposed line were staring down the barrel of massive disruption, from the compulsory purchase of family homes and farms, to the ruination of local ecosystems. A movement was forming, and beginning to define the project in the public eye.Presenter: Kate Lamble
Producer: Robert Nicholson
Executive Producer: Will Yates
Sound Design and Mix: Arlie Adlington
 
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

As specific plans for HS2 were announced, protestors quickly sprang into action, forming campaigning groups and arguing for the line to be fundamentally re-thought. They saw HS2 as an industrial eyesore rammed through the heart of some of Britain’s most beautiful countryside. Communities all along the proposed line were staring down the barrel of massive disruption, from the compulsory purchase of family homes and farms, to the ruination of local ecosystems. A movement was forming, and beginning to define the project in the public eye. Presenter: Kate Lamble Producer: Robert Nicholson Executive Producer: Will Yates Sound Design and Mix: Arlie Adlington A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Derailed: The Story of HS2: 3. That can’t be right

NEW in Understand - Derailed: The Story of HS2Over 10 episodes, Kate Lamble starts from the beginning, and uncovers the real inside story behind the journey of HS2. From the railwaymen who dreamed it up, through the political crises and politicians who shaped it, the fight to halt it and the mistakes that came to define it.High Speed Two is the remarkably matter of fact name for Europe's largest infrastructure project. The rail project that started life in 2009 promised to join up London and Birmingham, before splitting into two legs towards Manchester and Leeds. It was a straight line that would send trains whizzing at over 200 miles an hour through the British countryside, with a new train leaving London every few minutes. A massive enterprise that would ease the critical pressure on the West Coast Mainline, and become the envy of the world - a watch word for innovation and ambition.
 
16 years on, and that dream is in tatters. The two Northern legs have been cancelled, costs have spiralled into dizzying territory and it remains uncertain if and when any trains will ever be running. Environmental groups are furious, with complaints that construction has devastated woodlands and habitats. So too, are local communities, with small villages and family farms bearing the brunt of a programme of compulsory purchases and countryside transformed into building sites.
 
As Prime Ministers and whole political eras came and went, HS2 stuck around as a great dilemma. But each round of scandal and protest was gradually chipping away until it became a shorthand for waste, inefficiency and short-sightedness. 
 
So - what went wrong?
 
Kate hears from the people closest to the big decisions and the big impacts, from villages along the line to the levers of power inside HS2 and even Downing Street itself. And as she follows the twists and turns of HS2's tortured path, she explores the reality of why we struggle to build a better future.
 
Understand from BBC Radio 4 - unravelling the complexities of the biggest stories and subjects that really matter right now.

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NEW in Understand - Derailed: The Story of HS2 Over 10 episodes, Kate Lamble starts from the beginning, and uncovers the real inside story behind the journey of HS2. From the railwaymen who dreamed it up, through the political crises and politicians who shaped it, the fight to halt it and the mistakes that came to define it. High Speed Two is the remarkably matter of fact name for Europe's largest infrastructure project. The rail project that started life in 2009 promised to join up London and Birmingham, before splitting into two legs towards Manchester and Leeds. It was a straight line that would send trains whizzing at over 200 miles an hour through the British countryside, with a new train leaving London every few minutes. A massive enterprise that would ease the critical pressure on the West Coast Mainline, and become the envy of the world - a watch word for innovation and ambition. 16 years on, and that dream is in tatters. The two Northern legs have been cancelled, costs have spiralled into dizzying territory and it remains uncertain if and when any trains will ever be running. Environmental groups are furious, with complaints that construction has devastated woodlands and habitats. So too, are local communities, with small villages and family farms bearing the brunt of a programme of compulsory purchases and countryside transformed into building sites. As Prime Ministers and whole political eras came and went, HS2 stuck around as a great dilemma. But each round of scandal and protest was gradually chipping away until it became a shorthand for waste, inefficiency and short-sightedness. So - what went wrong? Kate hears from the people closest to the big decisions and the big impacts, from villages along the line to the levers of power inside HS2 and even Downing Street itself. And as she follows the twists and turns of HS2's tortured path, she explores the reality of why we struggle to build a better future. Understand from BBC Radio 4 - unravelling the complexities of the biggest stories and subjects that really matter right now.

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Derailed: The Story of HS2: 3. That can’t be right

Derailed: The Story of HS2: 3. That can’t be right

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