Leader - New rail link is bad news for Shropshire

Were the

planned to pass through Shropshire, the protests on environmental grounds would make the objections to new electricity pylons across the county look tame indeed.

But as HS2 is not in our back yard, Salopians have the luxury of evaluating the scheme on how Shropshire will benefit.

And not only will Shropshire not benefit, but it is quite likely that its train services will suffer through an effective downgrading of Wolverhampton station, which is a major portal to the county.

The emphasis of HS2 is more towards the central and eastern part of the country, rather than the western areas, and so the prospect is for fewer services and a link to the capital for western areas which is actually poorer.

It is a little-reported fact that the high speed trains will not go into the centre of Birmingham at New Street, but will go to a new station on the eastern outskirts of the city.

This will mean passengers for Birmingham centre will need another train journey to get there, devaluing one of the main arguments in favour HS2, in that it will cut down journey times.

Rather than being a link into the heart of the Midlands, it actually bypasses the heart of the Midlands and points northwards and eastwards, an accurate indication of the direction of the planned further extension.

So, at the cost of a huge outlay at a time of austerity, attractive countryside will be blighted for the sake of saving a few minutes. The way air travel has developed has proven that speed is not necessarily king.

HS2 is a modern Concorde which will do nothing good for Shropshire.

The money would be better spend on upgrading and improving existing routes.

Harsh winter is not a thing of the past:

Thirty years ago today Shropshire was the coldest place in England ever recorded. It was deep in snow and in the middle of a big freeze-up which had begun in early December.

That record of minus 26.1C at Edgmond still stands today.

For those who did not live through it, and who are currently enjoying the unseasonably mild spell, it is difficult to imagine such Arctic temperatures in this fair county.

Older readers will scoff, and say you should have been there in 1963. Or 1947.

It does make you wonder whether today's youngsters will ever get the chance to regale their grandchildren with tales of memorable bad winters.

To fail to experience them is a sort of deprivation.

They will not even be able to boast of heatwaves, if the trend for a warmer climate continues unabated into the future.

It would though be extremely naive to think that we will never get another 1947, 1963, or 1982.

It is not a question of if, but a question of when.