A protest at he nature reserve last week

NATURE reserve volunteers want to rewild a Primrose Hill woodland that was cleared to make way for High Speed 2 now that the railway scheme’s future has been plunged into uncertainty.

Hundreds of mature trees at the Adelaide Local Nature Reserve (ALNR) were chopped down so that a “vent shaft” could be dug for the scheme’s tunnels, but work is winding down and there is now real doubt about whether the link to Euston station will ever be finished.

Those who volunteer at the reserve now want to know what HS2 Limited, the company set up to oversee the multibillion-pound route to Birmingham and cities in the north, will do next.

Jeff Travers, secretary of the Adelaide Community Garden, said: “A meanwhile use is a temporary use that will use the site for the public good, while the works are in limbo. What else are they going to do? Weeds will grow.”

He added: “They could certainly sow annual wildflower seeds there without any impact on their work. The temporary regreening of a mothballed site that is still designated as a site of importance for nature conservation should be a no-brainer. It will go a very small way to mitigate the environmental damage already caused by HS2.”

Camden has been one of the worst-affected places in the country for demolition and disruption caused by HS2.

Dave Lawrence, secretary of the Adelaide Nature Reserve Association

People have been forced to leave their homes and businesses, while thousands of graves were dug up at a burial site in Euston.

Some residents left living next to intolerable construction sites were told to keep their windows closed.

But work has now been stopped amid spiralling costs and hints from government ministers that it will never cut a way through to Euston – stopping instead at Old Oak Common in Ealing.

Dave Lawrence, secretary of the Adelaide Nature Reserve Association, said: “They totally destroyed it, it was a nature reserve full of trees. We argued against this, we tried to persuade them that the ventilation shafts should be further down, but they tore down that half of the nature reserve. Obviously we fought against it good and hard.”

He added: “Nature is under such pressure, particularly urban nature. And green spaces like this, particularly along railway lines, are good because they act as a green corridor. “hat means that wildlife can move between different parts of the borough.”

At its next meeting, Mr Lawrence said the committee which runs the nature reserve will consider what can be done now work has stopped.

He added: “If some way could be negotiated of allowing us to have access of what’s left of the green spaces up there, our volunteers could do some work there. We’d have to go and have a look and see exactly what’s left. “We’d be looking down there to see what can be done to maintain a variety of biosystems. The second part might be introducing plants.”

An HS2 spokesperson said: “Some HS2 work between Old Oak Common and Euston is being paused and rephased with only critical preparatory work continuing during this time. We are working with our contractors to manage the impacts of these changes. We will continue to secure and maintain construction sites.

“The government remains committed to delivering HS2 from Euston to Manchester and these vital tunnels will enable high speed services into central London – creating jobs, better connecting our country and giving people more zero carbon transport alternatives.