YP Letters: Challenge to HS2 to debate rival scheme

FOR far too long the media has given the HS2 project a free ride. Spokesmen such as HS2 Ltd chairman Sir David Higgins have been allowed to claim multi-billion-pound economic benefits, and no-one has asked how a scheme such as HS2 can possibly deliver on these promises.

So The Yorkshire Post is to be congratulated for giving a hearing to the High Speed UK (HSUK) alternative (December 14). HSUK will offer direct high speed links from Leeds and Sheffield to almost every principal UK city, it will serve 
all principal Yorkshire communities including Bradford, Doncaster, Halifax, Huddersfield, Hull, Wakefield and York, and it will meet all the journey time targets set for the Northern Powerhouse.

By concentrating on developing an integrated and well-connected national network, rather than follow HS2 Ltd’s vainglorious quest to build the fastest railway in the world, HSUK will deliver far greater benefits for much reduced cost and environmental impact.

So it’s a mystery how HS2 Ltd can claim that HS2 offers “the best overall solution for the region”. Does HS2 Ltd really think that Yorkshire just wants high speed links to Birmingham and London? The truth of the matter is of course that Yorkshire communities need high-speed and high-quality links to every other major city of the UK.

I challenge HS2 Ltd to demonstrate how its proposals deliver the greatest connectivity, capacity and journey time reductions for Yorkshire.

If Sir David and HS2 Ltd believe that their proposals are ‘best for Yorkshire’ and ‘best for Britain’, they should be prepared to justify them in informed technical debate. High Speed UK stands ready to meet HS2 Ltd in an open public forum to discuss which proposal best meets the HS2 project’s core objective of delivering “hugely enhanced capacity and connectivity” between the UK’s major cities.

This is a challenge HS2 Ltd must meet if it is to retain any legitimacy.

From: Coun Sir Stephen Houghton (Lab), Chairman, The Special Interest Group of Municipal Authorities (Outside London) and Leader of Barnsley Council.

GOOD transport links are essential to spreading the benefits of higher productivity and stronger economic growth across the whole country, in line with the stated objectives of the Government’s Industrial Strategy.

But a failure to address an allocation basis that favours the most productive parts of the country, and a framework that doesn’t devolve to other sub-national transport bodies powers and funding equivalent to those enjoyed by Transport for London, will prevent their fulfilment.

The fact that local government and industry have independently identified the same obstacles as holding the country back should speak volumes, and I hope the Transport Select Committee’s inquiry will be seen by central government as an opportunity to revise its approach.

So long as Government uses narrow financial criteria to prioritise key projects, London will continue to be fast-tracked to the front of the queue, fuelling a self- reinforcing cycle of disproportionate investment.

From: ME Wright, Harrogate.

THE true facts about the environmental impact of bi-modal (diesel-electric) trains had to be squeezed out of the Department for Transport by Sheffield MP Paul Blomfield (The Yorkshire Post, December 18).

Does it come as a surprise to learn yet again, that we and our grandchildren are to be short-changed on a grand scale?

Given the abundant evidence that the upper echelons of Westminster are infested by half-truthers, was this story really the stuff of front page status in a worthy newspaper?

From: Paul Bates, Bowden Wood Crescent, Sheffield.

THE description of the road surface of the Sheffield Parkway (Chris Giddings, The Yorkshire Post, December 16) is not one that I recognise, as a regular user.

He may not be aware that the road crosses the boundary between Rotherham and Sheffield approximately half a mile after the Catcliffe junction and his description certainly applies to the Sheffield-bound carriageway immediately before this boundary, the length of road in question being the responsibility of Rotherham Council.

Sheffield City Council is currently, as you will be aware, in the process of resurfacing all of its roads.

Choice of words on race

From: Elisabeth Baker, Leeds.

AT last Prince Harry has found a bride who is obviously so well well suited to him. I wish them every happiness together.

Interestingly, Meghan 
Markle has one white and 
one black parent and is, accurately, described as being of mixed race. Barack Obama has one white and one black parent, and is described as black. Why? He was close to his white mother so he cannot have been ashamed of his white family. What a pity if this was necessary for political gain.

Vocabulary key to language

From: Brian Sheridan, Lodge Moor, Sheffield.

I AGREE with Philip Dacre that “grammar is the servant 
of language, not the master” (The Yorkshire Post, December 18). If there is a master, it is vocabulary and if that is impoverished or misused then language is atrophied.

The latest victim of misuse is the word “literally” in expressions such as “my heart was literally in my mouth”.

Jarring as they may be to pedants, pretentious grammatical errors such as “between you and I” are no impediment to precise communication.