Out-Law News 2 min. read

Government should commit to HS2 'as soon as possible' say business leaders


Business leaders, politicians and economists have called on the UK Government to commit to building a new high-speed rail link between Birmingham and London "as soon as possible".

More than 100 signatories, including British Chamber of Commerce head John Longworth, outlined their support for the scheme, dubbed HS2, in a letter published by the Daily Telegraph, Guardian and Financial Times.

"High speed rail has, for decades, proven itself as an effective mode of transport around the world. In addition to complementing traditional transport systems, high-speed rail allows us to get goods and services to market in a secure and timely manner as well as facilitating our ability to reach new customers," the letter said.

"The absence of a high-speed rail line, connecting the northern parts of Britain to London and the European Union, is a continuous embarrassment to British businesses promoting the UK overseas," it said.

Ministers will decide next whether to approve the new line next week, according to the BBC. The UK currently has one high-speed railway line, which connects London to the Channel Tunnel via Kent.

The Government has already stated its commitment to a new high speed rail line, on which trains capable of reaching speeds of 225 miles an hour would allow a journey time between Birmingham and London of 49 minutes. The full network will cost around £32 billion to construct, according to Government figures.

The preferred route, set out in the Department for Transport's (DfT) recent public consultation (25-page / 3MB PDF), consists of an initial line from London to the West Midlands. An onward 'y network' connecting the line to Manchester and Leeds, as well as a 'spur' to Heathrow Airport, would be built as part of the second phase of the scheme.

However the HS2 scheme has attracted strong opposition from local authorities and residents groups along the proposed route, arguing that the economic case for a new line is flawed and that its construction will damage areas of outstanding natural beauty.

In November, a House of Commons Select Committee found that there was a "good case" for the new network, but said that the Government needed to re-assess its plans and consider alternative routes. Shadow Transport Secretary Maria Eagle has proposed one such alternative that will follow existing transport corridors including the Chiltern line and provide a direct connection to Heathrow Airport as soon as the line opens.

In an additional letter, published by the Guardian on Thursday, trade union leaders also called for the Government to press ahead with investment in the project. The line would immediately create thousands of construction and engineering jobs, along with a potential one million long-term jobs in the south-east, the letter said.

Infrastructure law expert Patrick Twist of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said that the range of the signatories to the letters showed that the economic need for HS2 was widely recognised.

"The wide range of signatories - economists, business leaders and trade unionists - reflects the broad acceptance of the need for the line if capacity constraints are to be avoided and England is to operate as a joined-up economic entity," he said. "Next week's announcement by the Secretary of State will be a clear indication of whether the Government is willing to stand up to narrow sectional interests and is genuinely committed to changing the UK's chronic under-investment in infrastructure."

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