HS2 boss reveals £100m bill for 'non-essential' rail line 'bat shed'

HS2 has spent more than £100 million on a “shed” to protect bats on a section of the line, “despite there being no evidence that high-speed trains interfere with bats”, the head of the project company said.

Sir Jon Thompson said the 1-kilometer (0.6-mile) curved structure at Sheephouse Wood in Buckinghamshire would create a barrier so the creatures could fly over the railway without being affected by passing trains, as all bats are legally protected in the UK.

He told the Rail Industry Association’s annual conference in London on Thursday: HS2 he calls the building a “shed” and was built to appease Whitehall advisory body Natural England.

Sir Jon warned his audience not to believe it, but the shed “cost more than £100 million to protect the bats in this forest”.

He said this was an example of the “real problem” the UK has in completing major infrastructure projects, explaining that the state-owned company had to obtain 8,276 approvals from planning, transport and other public bodies related to the environment to build phase one. railway between the capital Birmingham.

He said: “People say you’re over budget but did people think about bats (when setting the budget)?

“I’m being trite about this, but I’m trying to show an example of 8,276 of them (consents).”

High Speed Two (London He said legislation would pass parliament, including tunneling (to the West Midlands) and rerouting the railway away from the forest.

Sir Jon said the company was forced to spend “hundreds of thousands of pounds” on lawyers and environmental experts because the local council did not approve the work even after Natural England approved the design.

“I eventually won planning permission over Buckinghamshire Council,” he explained.

Sir Jon, who has led the project since Mark Thurston left his role as chief executive in September 2023, warned in January that the estimated cost of phase one was as high as £66.6bn.

In 2013 it was estimated that HS2 would cost £37.5 billion (in 2009 prices) for the entire planned network, including the now-scrapped extensions from Birmingham to Manchester and Leeds.

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