Official estimates, obtained under a Freedom of Information request, suggest it will now cost around £25m more than previously thought.
An updated HS2 forecast, which has not been published before, estimated at the end of the 2022/23 financial year that the structure would cost £114.8m, the FOI data showed.
This is well above the more than £100m suggested by HS2 chair Sir John Thompson in November and the initial cost estimate of £95m.
The tunnel, in Sheephouse Wood which is part of a wider area of ancient woodland in Bernwood, Buckinghamshire that is home to 13 bat species, has become a symbol of the spiralling costs of the high speed rail line.
The Bechstein’s bat is one of the world’s rarest species (Photo; Franz Christoph Robi/Getty)
But Environment Secretary Steve Reed told The i Paper: “Spending vast sums to build a ‘bat tunnel’ is ludicrous.
He said Labour’s new planning reforms and a Nature Restoration Fund would unblock the building of homes and infrastructure, while protecting the environment, and “delivering a win-win for the economy and nature.”
He said: “HS2’s costs were a train wreck under the Tories, exemplified by the chaotic cash splurged on a bat tunnel.”
The MP for York Outer, continued: “I fully support the Government’s new efforts to reset HS2 and restore financial discipline.
Charters said the Government’s new slashing of red tape in its Planning and Infrastructure Bill would tackle “wasteful spending on projects like this” and ensure “resources are focused where they’re needed most, especially when thousands of children are still waiting for a home”.
The UK is also home to the most northerly population of Bechstein’s bats.
However, The i Paper in November revealed that the shed was being built to protect just 300 bats that do not roost in the nearest woodland.
Laws protect vulnerable bat species
A spokesman for HS2 Ltd said: “The demands of the UK planning and environmental consents process come at a high cost, largely out of HS2 Ltd’s control.
“A range of alternative options were reviewed and rejected on the grounds that they were more expensive or failed to pass the legal test.”
“The additional cost to provide a bat mitigation structure (i.e. specific below ground strengthening, approach ramps, and the above ground structure itself) was estimated at a cost of £114.8m (Q4 2022 prices).
The Government last week announced that phase one of the rail line will be delayed again, with costs expected to increase further.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( HS2 bat tunnel farce worsens as costs rise to £125m )
Also on site :