HS2 could cost more than £100 billion. Photo: Chris Gorman/Big Ladder
Rishi Sunak's plan to abandon the northern link of HS2 will undermine hundreds of millions of pounds of investment in the West Midlands, the region's Conservative mayor has warned.
Andy Street has called on Rishi Sunak to reconsider his opposition to high speed rail service amid reports the Prime Minister is set to scrap the Birmingham to Manchester section.
The Conservative mayor, who was previously chief of the John Lewis Partnership rail line, told The Telegraph: «A lot of people have made big investment decisions — literally hundreds of millions, if not billions of pounds — in anticipation of this [HS2].»
» I think telling a business, “We've changed our minds, and what you assumed in your investment decision is no longer correct,” is a very bad signal.”
The intervention comes days after the new American owners of Birmingham City football club warned that cutting HS2 would damage the UK's standing among foreign investors.
Four Labor mayors in the North, plus London Mayor Sadiq Khan, issued a statement. also co-signed a letter asking Mr Sunak to save the troubled scheme.
Mark Reynolds, chief executive of HS2 contractor Mace Group, separately warned that the government's abrupt changes are making his company and others reluctant to take on major projects in the UK in the future.
He told the Today program on BBC Radio 4: “We are, of course, careful. The new nuclear program is a prime example, we are preparing to work on it.
«Whatever you do, you find other alternative work both in the UK and in other countries.»
< p >This puts further pressure on the Prime Minister to pause the project and a decision is now believed to have been delayed until after the Tory party conference in Manchester.
2801 HS2 Shambles
Mr Sunak is said to be 'worried' Whitehall estimates suggest that the price of HS2 — already reduced in places — could now exceed £100 billion, although a cost of around £30 billion was initially approved.
He is believed to be in favor of running a second phase to Manchester and perhaps ending the line earlier in the West London suburb of Old Oak Common, rather than running all the way to Euston as originally planned.
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However, the cuts are facing fierce opposition from senior figures in Sunak's party, including former prime ministers David Cameron and Boris Johnson, who have warned the changes will make the scheme a white elephant.
Mr Street said huge amounts of inward investment in the West Midlands were driven by schemes built up to Manchester.
He said: “This is part of the story of investment in the West Midlands — we will be at the center of this network. And look what that has achieved in terms of record levels of inward investment.»
According to official government figures, £1 in every £10 of foreign investment went to the West Midlands last year, and this the region topped the regional overseas investment rankings with 181 projects.
Runaway Train – HS2 estimated cost
Birmingham has seen huge investment over the last decade, much of it driven by the expectation that the city will become the center of the new HS2 network.
The brand new Birmingham Curzon Street station will be located at the center of the 141-hectare regeneration site that the United Mr Street's West Midlands Authority and the Government are investing £724 million.
The combined body has also placed its bet on HS2 as a major pillar of future growth and job creation. They previously estimated that a full Y-shaped scheme would add £4 billion to the local economy.
This estimate for 2021, which suggests workers would find it easier to commute to Birmingham from further afield, was made before Boris The Johnson government abandoned the proposed Leeds link.
Infrastructure upgrades
Scrapping HS2 plans at such an advanced stage would undermine confidence in the Government's ability to deliver on key infrastructure promises, Mr Street said.
He said: «We must demonstrate to the world that we can deliver critical infrastructure effectively.»
Mr Street argued that HS2 would be a vital replacement for the existing but poor quality intercity trains between London, Birmingham and Manchester.
He said: “The biggest challenge for us is connection between the Midlands and the North because we are already quite well connected to London.»
“It was always about trying to get a train between London and the North. , Manchester and Birmingham because not only is the current experience slow, it's also crowded, expensive and people don't want to use it so they choose to drive instead. This is not an environmental solution.
“I know it's over budget, we'll have to deal with it. But you must absolutely adhere to this principle.”
Andy Burnham, the Labor mayor of Greater Manchester, separately accused the government of treating northern taxpayers as «second-class citizens» and threatened legal action. if the northern section is cut off.
Northern mayors say scrapping the northern section of HS2 would destroy a key section of railway needed for the proposed Northern Powerhouse line between Liverpool and Leeds.
< p >Business groups and universities have also warned against scrapping the scheme, with the Northern Powerhouse Partnership saying it would damage the UK's «reputation as a place to do business».
Nikki Paterson, business lobby group CBI regional director Midlands told local media: «All the research tells us that poor transport links are a major impediment to productivity and ultimately to growth.»
However, Lord Hague, the former Tory leader, backed Mr Sunak on Tuesday, calling HS2 a «national disgrace».
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