YP Letters: The are better options in the North to plans for HS2

From: Ron Firth, Campsall.
Should HS2 be scrapped in favour of a new railway from Hull to Liverpool?Should HS2 be scrapped in favour of a new railway from Hull to Liverpool?
Should HS2 be scrapped in favour of a new railway from Hull to Liverpool?

I READ with interest Tom Richmond’s column (The Yorkshire Post, September 13) regarding the failure – or determination – of MPs of all political persuasions to neglect the great opportunities available to the whole of the UK if they developed transport and energy policies in the North.

HS2 should be replaced immediately by a Hull/Liverpool high speed line to link all intervening towns and cities to these major ports to assist in development of future trade links direct globally, and in particular to and from North America and Scandinavia .

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I travelled from King’s Cross to Doncaster the other day on the 12.03 to Leeds. First Class was filled with businessmen working on laptops, iPads, iPhones on their mobile office.

HS2 in 15-20 years time may improve the time by 15 minutes, but already there is the imminent introduction of faster trains on the East Coast main line which will make HS2 superfluous.

Doncaster Airport is ideally situated for road connections from major motorways via the new M18 link road. It has the second longest runway in the country with space for a second one and expansion of the terminal buildings to facilitate the increased business. As you say, there is a rail link from ECML at Doncaster which could easily accommodate a spur to the airport for the short journey involved.

Further developments there, and at Manchester and Newcastle, could free up space at Heathrow and make the new third runway there unnecessary. There is far too much traffic, particularly rail and air, that has to come and go via London.

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Hinkley Point should have been abandoned. Whilst I agree with development of nuclear, this should be in the form of smaller units strategically placed. To me it is very sad that a country which was the bedrock of the Industrial Revolution should have to go to China for engineers and Rolls- Royce recruit engineers from India. I also supported the carbon capture scheme that was abandoned.

From: Alan Disberry, Sheffield.

IF the construction of HS2 is so critical to the economy of the North (The Yorkshire Post, September 14), why is construction of phase one linking the South East to the West Midlands? Why not start construction in the North and head South? I’m sure the billions of pounds a link from, say, Leeds to Birmingham would cost, would provide an enormous boost to the North’s economy in a timescale that I may live to see.