Holding the Government to account on its approach to High Speed Rail.
A powerful alliance of respected organisations has come together to agree the 'Right Lines Charter'.
The Charter seeks to achieve the best long-term outcome from high speed rail for the country, the climate, communities and the countryside.
Its supporters seek to engage positively with the Government, as they believe the approach to High Speed Rail currently falls well short of the Charter's principles.
The Woodland Trust has signed up to the Charter as we believe there is a need to move towards a low carbon economy. High Speed rail is one option to help us achieve this, but we remain unconvinced that, in their current form, HS2 plans will help to do this.
The Woodland Trust's position
What does the Charter ask for?
The Right Lines Charter sets out four core principles ‘for doing High Speed Rail well’:
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A national transport strategy
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Better future-proofing of big transport proposals
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Effective public participation, and
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A more strategic approach to minimising adverse impacts.
Many groups commenting publicly on High Speed Rail to date have represented either people living along the proposed route or businesses and cities that could profit from it.
The Charter draws together for the first time many well known national charities covering environmental, heritage, countryside, legal and wildlife issues, in addition to other organisations.
Download The Right Lines charter
We are each individually bound by our specific charitable and constitutional objectives and will want separately to emphasise our own particular priorities through the consultation process. There is, however, sufficient common ground between us to create a powerful joint approach on a range of fundamental issues.