mop denson

Outdoors somewhere...

I campaigned for over a decade to try and stop HS2 and get better environmental outcomes for the project

[mop denson @mopdenson]

It was reported that Mark Thurston former #HS2 ltd CEO earned £617,300 in salary in 2021/22, with added benefits worth £5,400, making him at one point the highest-paid public servant in the UK. He left HS2 in a mess and then went to work for a water company.

[mop denson @mopdenson]

@BBCPM There has never been a shortage of optimism from #HS2 supporters but there has been a distinct shortage of accountability for cost increases and delays. To say ‘Turned around’ when the project is a de-scoped shadow of the original scheme is a joke.

[mop denson @mopdenson]

@IainDale @LBC It wasn’t in the national interest to build #HS2 & destroy so much irreplaceable habitat along the chosen route (route chosen to save 3 mins over using existing M40 corridor) This unjustifiable project started with Labour and they must take some of the blame for this scandal.

[mop denson @mopdenson]

@IainDale @LBC The political class chose the 'story' of #HS2 and ignored the truth. Bent Flyvbjerg has documented this pattern in megaprojects worldwide: optimism bias gets projects approved, then reality lands on the taxpayer. HS2 Ltd also had interest in the project getting the green light.

[mop denson @mopdenson]

@transportgovuk How much will it cost to maintain the unused railway infrastructure, already built, for the next decade before the trains start running? Serious concerns in the Chilterns about lack of planning. As construction companies pack up and leave what next? #HS2

[mop denson @mopdenson]

@LBC @MichaelDnes1 @TomSwarbrick1 Late to the party - it was obvious back in 2011 that #HS2 should not go ahead.

[mop denson @mopdenson]

@Dominic2306 It was obvious before #HS2 was given the green light that the case had not been made. The business case was total fantasy.

[mop denson @mopdenson]

@Dominic2306 #HS2 was never about levelling up the North. The project that emerged from the cuts is a London regeneration scheme with a gold plated railway attached. That was always the plan in my opinion.

[mop denson @mopdenson]

@FT #HS2 was sold to the public & pushed through Parliament as levelling up the North. The project that emerged from the cuts is a London regeneration scheme with a gold plated railway attached. That was always the plan in my opinion.

[mop denson @mopdenson]

#HS2 was sold to the public & pushed through Parliament as levelling up the North. The project that emerged from the cuts is a London regeneration scheme with a gold plated railway attached. That was always the plan in my opinion.

[mop denson @mopdenson]

Cross party support for the #HS2 dream helped to make the project immune to real scrutiny. It's not incompetence that has put the costs up and the benefits down. Political incentives reward getting projects approved, not getting them right. MPs just move on as do HS2 Ltd execs

[mop denson @mopdenson]

The political class chose the 'story' of #HS2 and ignored the truth. Bent Flyvbjerg has documented this pattern in megaprojects worldwide: optimism bias gets projects approved, then reality lands on the taxpayer. HS2 Ltd had interest in the project getting the green light.

[mop denson @mopdenson]

#HS2 was a cross party political project. MPs were whipped to vote it through with many not even looking at the shocking lack of detail in the original plan or understanding that the case had not been properly made.
@Labour @Heidi_Labour

[mop denson @mopdenson]

At the last meeting I attended with #HS2 I was told that the maintenance plan for the section of the line in the Chilterns had not been decided. So many unanswered questions.

[mop denson @mopdenson]

It's been 15 painful years to get to this point in the #HS2 scandal. With today's announcement it means the section of track in the Chilterns will potentially sit for the next generation without a single train running on it! Yet the site will have to be maintained for future use.

[mop denson @mopdenson]

For anyone that has been affected by the construction of #HS2 this video ought to have some sort of trigger warning. How can we be 15 years in and still asking such basic questions. It highlights how HS2's initial design/plan was a joke.

https://t.co/wPN3mR9mVS via @YouTube

[mop denson @mopdenson]

@TimesRadio the Chilterns National Landscape has been torn apart for a project that was given the green light with a fantasy business case #HS2

[mop denson @mopdenson]

@TimesRadio HS2 is a cross party political scandal. The worst fears that #STOPHS2 and other protesters had brought attention to have not only been confirmed, but surpassed. #HS2

[mop denson @mopdenson]

@Timesradio #HS2 is a scandal. To date nobody has been held responsible either politicians or execs for any of the failures that have become this £100billion pound money mountain. There ought to be an inquiry.

[David Davis MP @DavidDavisMP]

HS2 was a white elephant from day one. A colossal waste of taxpayers’ money.

I said from the start the costs were absurd.

Back in 2019, I launched a report from the @the_tpa proposing much better ways to spend the money.

Instead, we've got spiralling budgets, gold‑plated design, slack oversight, and no accountability.

Billions sunk for a line that keeps shrinking.

The very definition of inefficient, ineffective, and unaccountable infrastructure spending.

This new review does not surprise me.

It simply confirms what we already knew – HS2 was a disaster baked in from the start.

https://t.co/Xq9FmGDmsv