Iver Heath is a small quite village on the Edge of Buckinghamshire. The village is famous for being the home of the world famous Pinewood Studios. The local residents have had a love, hate relationship with the studios. The studios have given the village a boasting point, however there is a downside to being right next to such a dynamic establishment. You may be thinking that Pinewood studios has come up with another plan that is going to upset the residents, but you would be wrong. The problem this time doesn’t come from the studios at all, but rather from projects that are not happening directly near the village. Cross-Rail and the High Speed 2 (HS2) Railway projects are the issue with Heavy-Goods-Vehicles transporting supplies to and from the project moving right through the narrow roads of the village and disturbing the peace. ‘This is another problem that the village has had to face’ one local resident complained angrily. Both Cross-Rail and HS2 have been met with strong opposition with whole communities fighting against the project. HS2 is a high-speed train network that was proposed to cut the journey time from London to Manchester. In the Buckinghamshire countryside the ‘Stop HS2’ have become a familiar sight over the last few years with people claiming that it just isn’t necessary for the time that it is actually going to cut of journey times, and the destruction of homes and farmland that is going to occur along its path. The Government argues that both projects will improve the transport links no end, and will create thousands of jobs that are going to benefit young workers and the economy. Neither Cross-Rail or HS2 are going to directly be affecting the village, but the construction will. This is very reminiscent of problems experienced with Pinewood studios, and their plans to expand which would have jeopardised the peace of the village. Isn’t there another way for these Vehicles to get to their destination without causing the mayhem that they have so far? It could just be simple case of having to cope with the disruption until the projects are finished. With HS2 not even in the main stages of work yet, and the full Cross-Rail project not going to be complete yet it doesn’t look great for residents to wake up to a peaceful morning quite yet. Will this change and will residents win their battle to prevent this or is it going to be a regular occurrence until the last sleeper is laid?
