I WAS very pleased to see New Forest East MP Julian Lewis (January 11) taking a stand against the proposed High Speed Train (HS2).

Ministers repeatedly promised that a full Environmental Impact Assessment would be carried out and would be available during the public consultation.

That consultation closed on July 29 last year but the promised environmental study never appeared.

Although this part of the country is not directly affected, we still have a duty to speak up to stop our precious countryside elsewhere being wrecked by the fanciful public sector vanity project.

Also, HS2 is going to cost £51m for each and every one of the 650 parliamentary constituencies.

Even if we had this sort of money (which we don’t) it would be better spent relieving acute commuter overcrowding in the south-east, thus benefitting more people, more quickly at much less cost.

CLLR CHRIS LAGDON, New Forest District Council (Con).