The largest initiative in a numerous number of years to improve the railway routes in the West Midlands, HS2, is set to be given the royal seal of approval of the queen. This project is eagerly awaited by building and development leaders who want to begin plans to implement the high-speed link from London to Birmingham. Valued to inject an extra £14 billion into the country’s economy as a whole, it means that access from the capital to the West Midlands will be quicker than ever and it is certainly undoubtedly the case that the project is an ambitious one.

It is said that the enterprise will result in the creation of 104,000 employment opportunities for individuals in the area as well as 2,000 apprenticeship schemes that will help to set up the new generations of workers along British railways. Indeed, a huge amount of land in between is set to be cleared and it is clear that a number of villages between the two locations will probably be bulldozed or have a lot of land by them that will be taken up by the HS2 project. But that is clearly of no concern to the HS2 initiators and the Queen (who probably still needs to be reminded that Birmingham is a city and not a… biscuit), who will very probably have signed away the fate of those villagers by the time this press release gets launched into cyberspace.

It is quite evident that a great deal has been said about the advantages that the HS2 will have (such as how it will improve the transport journeys of two million individuals who have to travel regularly between the two cities). It is also clear that a great deal of money has been put aside for this enterprise and that it will undoubtedly improve the economic infrastructure. But city slickers, I beg you: spare a thought for those who might see things a little differently.