Trees were felled and the potential habitats of rare bats and butterflies were destroyed on a nature reserve without permission to make way for HS2, the high-speed rail scheme has admitted. Contractors sealed off public footpaths and removed trees inside Calvert Jubilee nature reserve, in Buckinghamshire, without notifying the landowner, the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust (BBOWT). But in a letter to the wildlife trust seen by the Guardian, HS2 subsequently admitted it did not have permission to undertake the work. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Activists demonstrating against the HS2 railway line in Denham, Buckinghamshire. “Even if the land taken was reduced by a couple of metres, it saves a chunk of nature reserve because the track goes through so much of the reserve.

Source: The Guardian January 10, 2020 06:56 UTC