Why pressing on with HS2 is unfathomable in wake of crisis

A FEW days ago, after dithering for almost a year, the Government finally gave HS2 “notice to proceed”. Ministers said they could wait no longer. For once, they were telling the truth about HS2.

Giving the go-ahead to have hundreds of construction workers building it in close proximity to each other in the middle of a nationwide social distancing lockdown, and committing over £100bn of taxpayer’s money when the country is under such financial strain, seems unfathomable.

The decision to build HS2 was never an economic decision, it was always political. It was railroaded through by powerful lobbying groups from the construction industry and a handful of civic and political leaders who wanted a share of the massive trough of public money for their patch by having a station there.

None of these parties cared about the ecological damage and the issues it would cause for people living along the route. It has always been a solution looking for a problem. Initially, the problem was getting to London faster. When that argument was debunked (they had not taken into account that you can actually work on a train), they switched the justification to capacity. It was never proven that we need anything like the capacity that £106bn will bring (unless you want everyone working in Leeds to commute to London each day instead). But then another threat to the business case emerged – Covid-19.

During the lockdown, companies have had no choice but to allow staff to work from home. Previously, they were reluctant to do so. Does the technology work? Can we trust our staff? Now they’ve tried it, many have found that it does work for them, and it’s much cheaper. We don’t know for sure what the UK will be like after the lockdown, but it is likely that many companies will continue with the remote working practices they were initially forced to adopt. So demand for rail travel will reduce dramatically, destroying the already flimsy capacity argument for HS2.

The lobbyists and Ministers who are desperate to see the £106bn shared out between the consultants and construction companies had to force through the notice to proceed before the lockdown finishes, the additional capacity requirement disappears and the Government is forced to cancel it.

In so doing, they have pushed phase 1 past the point of no return by committing billions of pounds of public money to non-refundable contracts at a stroke.

From: James Bovington, Church Grove, Horsforth, Leeds.

THE Government giving formal approval for the HS2 scheme to proceed is bad news for all those who, for good reason, see prioritising the development of local and regional rail as the transport spending priority for the indefinite future (Tom Richmond, The Yorkshire Post, April 18).

Re-opening branch lines such as Menston to Otley is a desirable long-term objective but over the next dozen or so years the progressive re-opening of missing links should be the priority. Hence Skipton to Colne and Harrogate to Northallerton via Ripon are the two absolute priorities with Leeds to Harrogate via Wetherby and the Spen Valley line from south of Bradford to Dewsbury also worthy projects.

From: Steve Wilson, Lenton Villa, Bradford.

TOM Richmond suggests public opinion may “stop HS2 in its tracks” if the rationale behind spending well over £100bn – and it will be well over – cannot be explained in light of the cost of the current crisis. I would suggest public opinion does not count a jot, and that there are far too many snouts in the trough to change course. It will be a folly that many of us will never see.

From: Mrs Trees Fewster-Verhaar, Listing Lane, Gomersal.

I HAVE just had an epiphany and the best reason for cancelling HS2. Now office workers are working from home the bosses will be thinking ‘why should we go back to expensive office space? If people don’t need to travel, then we certainly don’t need HS2’. This is even more reason to invest in the best quality broadband for everyone over the whole of the UK.

Editor’s note: first and foremost - and rarely have I written down these words with more sincerity - I hope this finds you well.

Almost certainly you are here because you value the quality and the integrity of the journalism produced by The Yorkshire Post’s journalists - almost all of which live alongside you in Yorkshire, spending the wages they earn with Yorkshire businesses - who last year took this title to the industry watchdog’s Most Trusted Newspaper in Britain accolade.

And that is why I must make an urgent request of you: as advertising revenue declines, your support becomes evermore crucial to the maintenance of the journalistic standards expected of The Yorkshire Post. If you can, safely, please buy a paper or take up a subscription. We want to continue to make you proud of Yorkshire’s National Newspaper but we are going to need your help.

Postal subscription copies can be ordered by calling 0330 4030066 or by emailing [email protected]. Vouchers, to be exchanged at retail sales outlets - our newsagents need you, too - can be subscribed to by contacting subscriptions on 0330 1235950 or by visiting www.localsubsplus.co.uk where you should select The Yorkshire Post from the list of titles available.