HUGE new woodlands and wetland areas will created along the route of HS2 Phase 2a as part of the first contract awarded for the 36-mile line between the West Midlands and Crewe.
Balfour Beatty has won a £52 million deal for environmental works at 82 sites running north from Fradley, Staffordshire. Work will include tree planting at more than 40 sites covering an area the size of 86 football pitches, establishing more than 18 miles of new hedgerows, creating 220 ponds, and forming enough new grassland meadows to cover 140 football pitches to encourage wildflowers and insects to flourish.