As part of the HS2 works at Harvil Road a new bridge was put in over the Chiltern Line. This was made on a straighter alignment, to facilitate the movement of heavy vehicles and relieve a bottle-neck that impeded the flow of traffic. Lots of skip lorries and dust-carts use that route to get to New Years Green Civic Amenity Site (aka the dump).
There is currently a Section 17 Planning Application on Hillingdon council’s planning portal for the demolition of the old bridge, which was built using traditional Chiltern Railways style brick construction. It now no longer forms a bottleneck for traffic, it just provides alternative access to one of the HS2 compounds. The compound is on the site of the Protection Camp, but the road and the natural level of the field have been stripped away, so there is almost nothing recognisable.The compound is eventually earmarked to become an Ecological Mitigation Site.
If you think you might like to comment on the proposal to demolish a bridge, to make earthworks on an ECOLOGICAL MITIGATION SITE please feel free to do so.
In my own comment, I mentioned that I don’t feel the new bridge that carries faster traffic on a straighter alignment over the Chiltern line is active travel-friendly, and so I asked asked whether they might be willing to make the old one into a Green Bridge for wildlife and active travel. It may be too late. I have no idea whether the Green Bridge alternative is feasible but it’s a good thing for the planning department to know that cyclists take an interest in planning applications.
It would be amazing to see a Green Bridge here and/or a good active travel route. Crazy we’re still talking about “straightening road alignments” as if it’s a good thing!
I wonder if it would be an obstacle for Chiltern Mainline electrification (should this ever happen…) — but perhaps there is room to modify the bridge rather than destroy it, especially as it no longer needs to be able to support the weight of heavy vehicles.