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One of the problems is that people across the country are clamouring for high speed rail links to London.
I know, because we have been trying to get one over here for several years and my inbox is full of emails from people pushing for it, and trying to get every local politician (down to the lowliest Parish Councillor) to lobby the Transport Minister on their behalf. Our MP receives semi-regular petitions for such a link.
Damned if you do. Damned if you don't. But whatever you do: not in my backyard.
[eta] That sounded a little more harsh than I'd intended carruthers. It does suck if you happen to live just next to the new line. But it has to go somewhere (if you going to have it at all, and there are huge economic arguments for doing so) and someone's house is going to be near. We are not a b ig enough country for this stuff to veer miles away from towns and villages. The only places you could take it to get far enough away from conurbations that it doesn't affect somebody, would put it right into the heart of the Greenbelt, and that would upset even more people. And even then it would have to meet up with the populated areas at some point in its journey.
I sit on a planning committee every three weeks. It's fascinating, but there is a lot of NIMBYism. Everyone wants our country to up its use of renewable energy; but nobody wants a wind turbine within ten miles of their house.
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