Staffordshire homes and roads pip high-speed rail in survey
Building homes, improving roads and boosting airport capacity are more important to Britain's economic recovery than the controversial £32 billion HS2 rail link through Staffordshire, a survey has found.
Just four per cent of more than 1,400 people questioned said building a new high-speed rail line was the "best way of boosting the economy". The top choice was building more homes, which won 40 per cent of votes, while road improvements got 20 per cent. Extending high speed broadband polled eight per cent.
That was ahead of increasing airport capacity, with five per cent, and building a new high-speed rail line. Fourteen per cent said improving existing rail links should be top priority.
Protest group HS2 Action Alliance commissioned the study, carried out by Ipsos MORI. In total 1,442 face-to-face interviews were completed.
Under proposals, the £32 billion HS2 rail link will cut through Whittington while there could also be a major junction between Lichfield and Fradley. Stop HS2 campaign coordinator Joe Rukin said today: "The results of this survey are no surprise to us. For three years, Governments have allowed themselves to be seduced by the idea of high-speed rail, as sold to them by lobbyists from vested interest groups.
"They have totally lost sight of what the public know is really needed to get Britain going again."
Hilary Wharf, from HS2 Action Alliance, added: "Costing a staggering £17 billion, phase one of HS2 will support just 42,000 jobs and only 14,000 of these will be outside of the M25.
"So we are not surprised that the public agree with us that HS2 is not the answer to boosting the economy."
Phase one will see a London-to-Birmingham link built, with a second phase reaching Manchester and Leeds by about 2033.
