HS2 review ignores importance of scheme for Midlands, says director
The director of Midlands Connect has hit out at the author of an alternative review for HS2, which claims Parliament was “seriously misled” over the costs of the high-speed rail project.
Maria Machancoses said Lord Berkeley’s suggestion that the Government should consider building only small sections of HS2 in the north of England showed a disgraceful ignorance of how important the scheme was to the Midlands. “Our region of more than 10 million people stands to benefit the most from HS2, yet we are consistently squeezed out of the debate. HS2 must be delivered in full,” she said.
“Contrary to Lord Berkeley’s view that the benefits of HS2 have been overstated, I believe firmly that they have been vastly underestimated.
“During the official Oakervee Review, Midlands Connect and our partners submitted swathes of compelling new evidence showing that integrating HS2 with existing networks can bring vast improvements to journeys for millions of people.”
Miss Machancoses said HS2 was the best way of levelling up the country and unleashing its potential.
“There are no ‘shovel ready’ alternatives that could transform our rail network in the same way, provide the extra capacity we so desperately need and contribute to our low-carbon transport future,” she added. “It is disingenuous to suggest that the Government could upgrade existing lines in the Midlands and the North without HS2.
“Our £3.5 billion Midlands Engine Rail proposals are fully integrated with HS2, as is Northern Powerhouse Rail, and we have said repeatedly that neither scheme can be fully realised without delivering HS2 in its entirety.
“We are working closely with the new government to back our Midlands Engine Rail plan which, by using capacity released by HS2, will introduce more than 700 new passenger services every day in every corner of the Midlands.
“We will continue to make the case for HS2 until it is secured in full.
“It is time to get on with delivering the infrastructure the Midlands and the north so desperately needs, and we look forward to working with our partners and the new government to make it happen.”
Former Labour transport spokesman Lord Berkeley’s hard-hitting 70-page dissenting report into the high-speed rail proposal suggests HS2 would be poor value for money and bad for the environment.
The network was initially expected to cost £50.1bn. Latest estimates by HS2 Ltd – the private company in charge of the project – put the price at £88 billion. But Lord Berkeley says independent analysis arrives at a figure of at least £107.92bn.
“I believe that Parliament has been seriously misled by the failure of HS2 Ltd and by ministers to report objectively and fairly on costs and programme changes,” Lord Berkeley wrote in his report.
Lord Berkeley said he wrote his “dissenting” or “minority” report because he disagreed with some conclusions of the draft report overseen by Doug Oakervee, the former HS2 Ltd chairman appointed by Boris Johnson. The now defunct review panel’s deputy chairman launched a scathing attack on the review in November, after a leaked draft recommended the high-speed railway should be built in full despite soaring costs.
