Political leaders in call to take control of eastern leg of HS2
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They are demanding an arms-length delivery body for ‘High Speed North and Midlands’ to ensure the project comes in on time and on budget.
Failing to to build it in full would be ‘devastating for cities and communities’, they insist, and would see the government fail its first test of ‘levelling up’.
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Hide AdSheffield City Region Mayor Dan Jarvis has sent a letter to the Prime Minister, co-authored with Leeds City Council leader Judith Blake and Nottinghamshire County Council leader Kay Cutts, urging him to honour the commitment he made to the project in February last year. The trio are leaders of the Connecting Britain campaign – a coalition of mayoral combined authorities, local authorities and businesses in the Midlands and North.
In the letter they again reject the Rail Needs Assessment, published by the National Infrastructure Commission in December, which said the focus should be on linking cities in the North and Midlands first.
They state: ‘Levelling up is an ambitious objective, and one that can make a real difference to the economies of the North and Midlands, as well as the quality of life and employment opportunities for people who live there.
‘The commitment to deliver the northern parts of HS2 in full is the first test of the reality of the levelling up agenda. Going back on this commitment would see it fall at the first hurdle, and would make a vision of a balanced, fair country for everyone impossible to deliver’.
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Hide AdThey say the Rail Needs Assessment ‘completely failed to meets it remit’: to set out how major project can be fully delivered, including HS2, Northern Powerhouse Rail and the Midlands Engine.
The letter adds: ‘We wholeheartedly reject that report and urge the Government to do the same. It is not fit for purpose – the National Infrastructure Commission was tasked with integrating these projects, not pitting them against each other.
‘Your challenge in February to the NIC was for them to work out how to integrate major projects both North-South and East-West, not force the North and Midlands to choose between them.’
Now they are calling on government to confirm a clear timescale in the forthcoming Integrated Rail Plan that sets out when the Eastern leg will be delivered ‘in full and at pace’.
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Hide AdThey add: ‘Each year of delay costs the North and Midlands £4.9bn. We need to see the hybrid bills for HS2 East in Parliament by 2023, and work can also begin on sections that do not require legislation’.
Connecting Britain states the benefits of delivering the Eastern leg in full as part of an integrated network include more than 150,000 new jobs, many of which will be highly-skilled, unlocking capacity for commuter services and freight, raising productivity, and sparking regeneration around stations.
HS2 stations are carbon zero, it is claimed. And HS2 including Phase 2b as part of High Speed North, would take 2m lorries off Britain’s roads and onto its railways each year – reducing carbon emissions by 76 per cent.
