Northern legs of HS2 offered a glimmer of hope but does the Government have the will to deliver?
High Speed 2 (HS2) is an example of how not to deliver public infrastructure and the end product is still at risk of becoming a monument to failure.
The Minister of State for Rail at the Department for Transport, Lord Peter Hendy, is right to call it a mess. In fact, calling it a mess is an understatement. HS2 became entangled in a web of incompetence, spiralling costs and political indecision.
The failure of one of this country’s most important public sector projects is a reputational risk to the UK. The decision by the previous government to cancel the Northern leg of HS2 kicked the legs out from underneath the rationale for the project. Ending the line at Birmingham does not even come close to realising the potential that came with the original plans.
The argument for delivering HS2 in full has not changed. Not only for the project to be meaningful but also to transform transport in the North.
Leaders in the region are rightly convinced that HS2 will also free much needed capacity on the North’s existing network as well.
That is why the glimmer of hope offered by Lord Hendy’s comments that the Government is still considering the future of the previously cancelled routes to Manchester and Leeds.
Lord Hendy confirms that the future of the land that is still being held by HS2 remains undecided and says it is under consultation.
This highlights the opportunity that still exists, if the current Government is willing to seize it. HS2 might have gone through several changes but what has not changed is the need for it to come to the North. However, the region cannot be kept on tenterhooks and the Government needs to take decisive action. At the same time, lessons need to be learned from this whole debacle. Never can another situation like this be allowed to unfold.