Insider Media Limited

A new environmental alliance has called on the government to reconsider its plans for a high-speed network from London to Birmingham and onto Manchester and Leeds.

The group, which includes the Campaign to Protect Rural England, RSPB and Greenpeace, said there has been too little consultation on the HS2 scheme. It has launched a charter that sets out four core principles “for doing high-speed rail well”.

The charter calls for a national transport strategy, better future-proofing of big transport proposals, effective public participation and a more strategic approach to minimising adverse impacts.

The Campaign for High Speed Rail, which is backed by the likes of the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce and Barhale Construction, has welcomed the new group saying the charter offered “an important contribution to the consultation around HS2”.

Professor David Begg, Director of the Campaign for High Speed Rail, said: “It is significant that these groups recognise a high speed rail line would help offset carbon emissions from other less green forms of transport.

“Any large-scale transport project inevitably has positives as well as negatives. The government and HS2 Ltd must work together with public interest groups to minimise the environmental impact of the project in order to maximise the wealth of positive outcomes.”

In March, the government launched a five-month consultation into the proposed high speed rail link. Transport secretary Philip Hammond said the project would deliver about £44bn of benefits and would cut journey times between London and other major cities by as much as an hour.

Speaking to Insider, he also hit out at the "truck importers and climate change deniers" who have slated the plans.

He vented his frustration at a group of high profile business leaders, Tory colleagues and economists who wrote to the Daily Telegraph to describe the HS2 line through the country as an “extremely expensive white elephant” and a “vanity project”.