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Fight on for high-speed rail link, Minister urges region
BUSINESSES and passengers have been told to continue fighting to ensure the Yorkshire region is not dropped from Labour's plans for a high-speed rail network.
Yorkshire and Humber Minister Rosie Winterton has cautioned against complacency and told campaigners to keep up the pressure to make sure links to Leeds and Sheffield are not knocked off schedule.
Plans unveiled by the Government this month promised links to the two Yorkshire cities as part of a 30bn high-speed network, although it could be 20 years before passengers benefit because a line from London to Birmingham will be built first.
Ms Winterton dismissed criticism over the length of time it will take and warned the region would fare worse under Tory plans, which would link London to Leeds only via Manchester, with no proposed stop at Sheffield.
She said campaigners must keep pushing the region's cause over the next year so that if Labour returns to power the link to Leeds is included in the Hybrid Bill which will go through Parliament from 2012 and decide the final route.
"It's essential we keep the momentum up on this," Ms Winterton said, warning that the detailed work would now begin on where the route beyond Birmingham should run.
"The important thing about the announcement was that the Hybrid Bill would cover the route up to Yorkshire and the Humber, and the detailed consultation on this is going to start in the autumn.
"We need to make sure we have a co-ordinated response from Yorkshire and the Humber which supports these proposals so that there's a very clear case for including Yorkshire and the Humber in the Hybrid Bill as set out by Lord Adonis."
Although all parties back the idea of high-speed rail, the Tories have been critical of Labour's proposals – for an initial line to Birmingham and two subsequent lines from there to Manchester and to Leeds – and seem unwilling to take up Lord Adonis's pleas for a political consensus.
While Labour's proposals promise to knock an hour off journey times from London to Leeds, the Tory plans would cut off only 28 minutes although they claim they would start work sooner.
The Government announcement – which pledged to build the lines to Leeds and Manchester at the same time – was welcomed by businesses, although there has been disappointment that the network will take so long to build. Construction of the Birmingham line will not start until 2017.
Ms Winterton said: "It's essential that we take advantage of this announcement and keep the pressure on to ensure making the case for high-speed rail to come to Yorkshire and the Humber, including Sheffield and Leeds."
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Weather for Yorkshire
Sunday 12 February 2012
Today
Light rain
Temperature: 1 C to 6 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: North west
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Sunny spells
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