Campaigner calls for HS2 to be re-routed near Doncaster airport and away from Mexborough housing estate

A transport campaigner has launched a petition calling for the HS2 route to be redirected towards Doncaster airport and away from a Mexborough housing estate earmarked for demolition.
Computer-generated visuals of a high speed train. HS2. For editorial usage only.Computer-generated visuals of a high speed train. HS2. For editorial usage only.
Computer-generated visuals of a high speed train. HS2. For editorial usage only.

Chris Hardacre set up the petition this week which demands that the ‘Sheffield-centric’ HS2 route proposed last month, which would see the high speed rail line run through the partially completed Shimmer Housing Estate in Mexborough - resulting in its demolition, is axed.

The online petition set up by Mr Hardacre instead calls for the line to run through farmland near to Robin Hood Airport, following the opening of the first part of the Great Yorkshire Way which will link the airport with the M18 when it is completed.

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“There is a lot of room available for an extra runway, a new train station, terminal and parking,” said Mr Hardacre. The 38-year-old added: “The old route with its station at Meadowhall would have given more people in Yorkshire access to the route.

“This new route is more Sheffield-centric, and while it would benefit Sheffield residents it doesn’t look at the bigger picture of the north as a region. Currently a train journey from London Kings Cross to London Heathrow takes 51 mins. The fastest train from Kings Cross to Doncaster is 95 mins using existing lines and railway stock, this could be vastly reduced if HS2 were to be built in this direction, as it’s also six miles south of Doncaster station.”

The proposed new route through the Shimmer Estate in Mexborough was announced in a report published by Sir David Higgins, and has sparked a number of meetings in opposition to the plans. The re-route would see the station at Meadowhall axed in favour of one in Sheffield City Centre.

Mexborough First councillor, Bev Chapman, said she thought residents would welcome HS2 being routed past the airport instead. She added: “People here do not want this line. I think they would want anything that takes it away from people’s homes.”

For more information on the petition please visit: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/165447