WEEKS OF speculation and refusals from Rishi Sunak and Government ministers to confirm the future of the Birmingham to Manchester leg of HS2 due to cost increases were finally brought to an end on October 4, when the Prime Minister announced the decision to scrap the planned high speed line that would have linked the two cities.
Speaking at the Conservative Party Conference – ironically held in Manchester inside the former Manchester Central station – Mr Sunak said: “I say to those who backed the project in the first place, the facts have changed. And the right thing to do when the facts change is to have the courage to change direction.
“And so I’m ending this long-running saga and cancelling the rest of the HS2 project, and in its place we will reinvest every single penny – £36 billion – in hundreds of new transport projects in the North and the Midlands, across the country. This means £36 billion of investment in projects that will make a real difference across our nation.”
He then went on to announce the new initiative using that money – Network North – which detailed a host of ambitious transport schemes and improvements. However, within hours of the list being published, it attracted criticism; it was stated that some of the projects appeared to have already been delivered, while others were quickly removed from the list published online.
The Prime Minister also announced that the previous decision to terminate HS2 services at Old Oak Common – due to the rising costs associated with finishing the station at London Euston – would be reversed and HS2 would now terminate at Euston, although existing HS2 management would not be responsible for the site, citing mistakes made and mismanagement of the project.
However, it later transpired that the London Euston project would only take place if sufficient private investment can be found to deliver the proposed Euston Development Zone, which will also see thousands of new homes also built in the area.
Responding to the announcement, Railway Industry Association chief executive Darren Caplan said: “Many of the association’s members will be extremely disappointed by the Government’s proposal to scrap HS2 between Birmingham and Manchester. This follows the previous scrapping of the Eastern Leg to Leeds, the Golborne Link to enable high speed trains to get to and from Scotland, and the ‘pausing’ of the Old Oak Common to Euston stretch.
“The Government ci
