HS2 too big to be political football says boss

THE £50 billion HS2 scheme - which will connect London with Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds - is “too big a project to become a political football”, the man charged with developing and promoting the high-speed line said.
Sir David HigginsSir David Higgins
Sir David Higgins

Shadow chancellor Ed Balls is among politicians who have questioned the value for money of the scheme, which will connect Leeds, Manchester, Hull, Bradford and Wakefield.

But outlining ways of completing the northern, phase two, section of the scheme three years quicker, HS2 Ltd chairman Sir David Higgins called on cross-party support for the project in a report he launched in Manchester.

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He said HS2 must be accompanied by a massive overhaul of existing railways across the North of England if the scheme is to fulfil its potential and “transform” the region’s transport network.

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Sir David got an immediate political response to his report when Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said he agreed with the concerns about a proposed link between HS2 and HS1, the London-to-Kent Channel Tunnel high-speed link.

Mr McLoughlin announced that he was removing the HS2-HS1 link from the HS2 Bill currently going through Parliament and would look at other ways of linking HS2 with the continent.

The Transport Secretary also agreed with Sir David’s view, expressed in his report, that a more-expansive Euston station - the HS2 London terminus - should be considered.

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Mr McLoughlin said he was asking HS2 Ltd and Network Rail (NR) to “develop more comprehensive proposals for the development of Euston”.

The Higgins report said a new station at Crewe in Cheshire should be completed by 2027, six year ahead of schedule, and that phase 2 - taking the line north from Birmingham in a Y-shape to north west and north east England, could be finished by the end of 2030 - three years earlier than planned.

Mr McLoughlin responded by saying he was asking HS2 Ltd and NR to look at the Crewe/phase two proposals.

Phase one of HS2 would see a line running from London through Tory heartlands to Birmingham and is due for completion in 2026.

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The current whole-line cost, including contingencies, is £42.6 billion, with £7.5 billion for the trains.

In his report, Sir David said reducing the contingencies, which have pushed the total cost of the project up, would be “irresponsible”.

But he said cost cuts might be possible later and he laid down the gauntlet to politicians by saying the speedier the HS2 legislation, the better for cost reductions.

Sir David said that despite the potential benefits of HS2, he was “conscious of the price - financial, physical and emotional - that HS2 will demand from the country, from communities and from individuals”.

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Legislation covering phase one is currently going through Parliament, Mr McLoughlin has said that the legislation will not be completed before the general election.

Speaking in Manchester after launching his report, Sir David said he was hoping that the HS2 Bill would get Royal Assent in 2016 so that work on phase one could start, as planned, in 2017.

Challenging the politicians to get legislation through as quickly as possible, Sir David said; “The more certainty there is about the timescale, the more possible it is to control cost through economies of scale.

“That is why getting clarity over the duration of the parliamentary process is key. The more clarity Parliament can provide the more I can reduce contingency and therefore the ultimate cost.”

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He went on: “This project is too big to become a political football.”

He added that parliamentary scrutiny of HS2 was important, but was obviously time consuming. He said that “if done right”, HS2 would “address the issues of congestion in the south and lack of connectivity in the north”.

Mr McLoughlin said: “Sir David Higgins proposes to build HS2 better and bring the benefits to the North sooner. He has the Government’s strong support.

“HS2 is a vital part of our long-term economic plan. It will provide the extra space we need on our rail network for trains and passengers, link our northern cities and provide jobs and skills.

“HS2 is the right project at the right price and I believe implementing the measures Sir David recommends in the right way will deliver the benefits of HS2 faster.”