NEWS
Strong public support for HS2 - but opponents gain ground
Five times as many people back high-speed rail as oppose it, ac- cording to a poll released as the public consultation was getting underway.
Based on 2,037 responses, the Department for Transport-com- missioned survey showed just 9% opposed with 47% in favour, and 44% neutral or undecided.
Transport Secretary Philip Hammond said: “HS2 will be a piece of national infrastructure which will bring benefits to Britain as a whole. Of course we will do everything we can to mitigate the impacts on areas like the Chilterns but projects like this have to be decided on the basis of the na- tional interest and the overall net benefits it will bring to Britain.”
Anti-HS2 protest groups held a number of campaign events against the project, including “protest beacons” being lit along the proposed route through Warwickshire, and various cam- paign rallies and a conference featuring all of the most prominent opponents.
But David Higgins, Network Rail chief executive, said: “HS2 is a vital infrastructure project of national importance. It will be a hugely significant enhancement to the national rail network and will unlock tremendous capacity to tackle, what will be by 2024, critical overcrowding on the West Coast Main Line.”
Rail director at watchdog Passenger Focus, Ashwin Kumar,
said: “Wherever this new line is built, there will be winners and losers. It is important that the Government and industry contin- ues to discuss the implications of this decision with affected com- munities and addresses con- cerns.”
Those campaigning against HS2 say the financial case is vastly over-rated, especially because it values business people’s time spent on trains as economically worthless, which unrealistically in- flates the benefits of every minute saved. They argue it completely ignores the fact that many people currently use their time on trains working.
Campaigners also question the time saving that will be achieved, the impact on the countryside,
the unequal way the benefits will be distributed between cities and rural areas, and the huge capital cost of the scheme.
A group of business leaders have joined the calls for HS2 to be scrapped, calling for more invest- ment in roads and existing com- muter lines instead.
They are among 21 signatories to a letter calling the £17bn London- Birmingham project “an extremely expensive white elephant”.
Some of the signatories are well- known critics of high-speed rail, including Taxpayers’ Alliance head Matthew Sinclair, but oth- ers include former Chancellor Lord Lawson, Lord Wolfson of Next, Toby Baxendale of Direct Seafoods, Chris Kelly of Keltruck
and Rohan Masson-Taylor of Cadogan Tate Group. They wrote: “Stretched commuter trains and congested roads are a bigger issue than the journey time to London.”
But they are outweighed by high- profile public and private sector supporters of HS2 in the West Midlands, who have banded to- gether to combat the growing influence of the anti-high-speed lobby.
Go-HS2 is a collaboration between businesses and business organi- sations including The NEC Group, Birmingham Airport, Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, Business Birmingham, the city’s inward investment agency and public bodies Birmingham City Council, Solihull Council and transport au- thority Centro.
Geoff Inskip, chief executive of Centro, said: “Go-HS2 galvanises support for the project within the business and public sector and enables us to speak with one voice on what we believe is the biggest opportunity for wealth and job creation in a generation.”
Go-HS2 says alternative options to high-speed rail, such as longer and more frequent trains or ex- panding the existing line, have been examined and exhausted and cannot meet future demand.
The consultation, which runs until July 29, is one of the biggest ever undertaken by government. Visit
www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/pi/high- speedrail
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