HS2 branded ‘vanity project’ in wake of call for more scrutiny

The scathing criticism from members of the Stop HS2 group came after the Treasury Select Committee yesterday warned there were “serious shortcomings” in the proposals for the high-speed rail project linking London to the North, and said a “more convincing” economic case was needed for the Government’s flagship transport scheme.

The Treasury now estimates HS2 will cost £42.6bn – a 17 per cent increase on its previous projections.

Despite the renewed concerns, the Government was yesterday adamant that HS2 was “on course, under control and will be delivered within the agreed budget”. Political and economic leaders in the region also continued to back the scheme.

James Lynch, from the Stop HS2 campaign group, said he was not surprised by the Treasury Select Committee’s recommendations.

Mr Lynch, who lives in Woodlesford, Leeds, just 80 metres from the proposed HS2 track, said: “It’s just the latest in a long line of reports from experts and bodies within Whitehall, and the overwhelming evidence is that the business case for HS2 has not been made.

“But time and time again the Government ignore them, and plough on regardless.

“The starting point for the Government has always been ‘what does HS2 bring to the UK?’ and not ‘if we have billions for infrastructure, what is the best way to use it?’. It’s a completely flimsy business case and extremely frustrating for the taxpayer.”

Mr Lynch and other campaigners are especially frustrated by the lack of a satisfactory compensation offer for people affected by the proposed rail link. In Leeds, around 300 households in Swillington, Oulton and Woodlesford fear the link could reduce the value of their homes by up to £40,000, as well as bringing additional flooding danger from the possible relocation of a nearby canal. Campaigners have recently been urging councillors to push for an alternative route, which they say will be less damaging.

The Government admitted only last month that further changes could be made to the plans for the high-speed HS2 rail network, as a new study concluded it would be worth £15bn a year by 2037.

Research by consultants KPMG concluded that the proposed high-speed line, which would link London with Leeds, Manchester and Birmingham, could bring up to £1bn of economic benefits annually to West Yorkshire.

However MPs had earlier issued another scathing report on the scheme, warning that the apparent benefits were dwindling as the costs soared.

Jo Mason, from the Church Fenton branch of Stop HS2 in North Yorkshire, said: “It’s a vanity project and nothing more. How many more independent bodies need to tell them there’s no business case before they listen?”

In Sheffield – which is set to house its own HS2 station at Meadowhall – campaigner Paddy Limb questioned claims that the link would bring more than 5,000 jobs to the city.

“Fifty to 70 per cent of those jobs would just be displaced from other areas,” he said.

“The thing that sticks in my throat is the illusion that it will bridge the North-South divide,” he added. “But seven out of 10 jobs will be in London. It always sucks money to London.”

Mr Limb said credible alternatives to the HS2, which would have given a “far more cost effective solution using existing rail infrastructure”, had been ignored in favour of HS2.

He cited the work of 51M, a group of 19 local authorities that has joined forces in a national campaign to actively challenge the HS2 project.

Despite campaigners’ concerns, key regional and economic leaders continue to back the project.

Leeds city council’s chief executive Tom Riordan said yesterday that the construction jobs alone would provide “a welcome boost across many Northern cities and towns in the same way that Crossrail is currently benefitting London”.

Coun James Lewis, chairman of West Yorkshire’s public transport executive Metro, stressed the parliamentary bill currently under discussion is for the first-phase route only, and the second-phase Leeds link would not be discussed until 2015.

He said there was “plenty of time for the Government to make the case for HS2 in the future”, and the local focus now should be to lobby Government for a share of funding.

He questioned, however, why there seemed to be much more high-level scrutiny of a project in the North, while Southern-based schemes like Crossrail had not suffered the same level of criticism despite also going well over budget.