HS2 ‘still vital’ despite ballooning £88bn price tag, say businesses
HS2 is at risk of costing the public £88bn and could be delivered seven years behind schedule, but businesses still believe the project is worth the time and money.
Allan Cook, the chairman of HS2, today revealed his cost and timetable projections for the troubled high speed line, including that the project is could now not deliver its first phase until 2031.
Read more: HS2 faces seven-year delay as costs set to balloon to £88bn
That first phase will link London to Birmingham. Phase two, connecting Manchester and Leeds, may not arrive until 2040 – seven years late.
Businesses have long been passionate about HS2 as the best way to rebalance the economy and upgrade Britain’s creaking Victorian infrastructure, but critics will see this as further proof that the scheme is destined for the scrap heap.
Here we compile business reactions to the delays and cost overruns as Boris Johnson considers scrapping the project entirely.
CBI
HS2 promises to bring huge economic benefits across the country so today’s announcement of the delay is disappointing. But the message from business on the project remains consistent – build it, back it, benefit from it.
Of course today’s report may be a clarion call for those anti-HS2 voices but businesses believe derailing the scheme would be a significant economic restraint on the Midlands and the north.
British Chamber of Commerce
Business communities up and down the country will be disappointed at the prospect of having to wait longer to see the benefits of this vital project. Yet we remain confident the long-term benefits will be felt for generations, and will far outweigh the upfront costs.
Of course, no project should have a blank cheque, but HS2 is a critical investment in the UK’s future. The UK’s rail network is at capacity, with the full range of passenger and freight services sharing the same tracks and vying for priority. That’s why businesses – faced with ever-more unreliable services and overcrowding – recognise and support the strong economic case to deliver all phases of HS2.
There are communities and investors basing future development plans and regeneration schemes around HS2. Many jobs have already been created in advance of its anticipated completion, and many thousands more will be created in the future.
HS2 is critical to Northern Powerhouse Rail and other infrastructure projects that will transform connectivity for local communities, get freight off the roads, and link up the country as a whole. The start-stop approach to big infrastructure initiatives in the UK only serves to make it more difficult and expensive to provide better services to our towns and cities. It’s time to get on and deliver.
Railway Industry Association
Despite today’s news that HS2 Phase 1 may not be completed until 2028/31 and the update on costs, it is important to remember the project remains vital for the UK, its economy, cities and regional communities, and as shown by chairman Alan Cook’s Stocktake, the benefits have been substantially undervalued. It will still more than pay for itself in GVA for the country, and will support 30,000 jobs at peak construction.
We do of course need to ensure major infrastructure schemes like these represent value for money for the taxpayer, which is why the Railway Industry Association welcomed the setting up of the Oakervee review and looks forward to working with the review team to see how HS2 can be delivered as quickly and cost-effectively as possible.
High Speed Rail Industry Leaders
A major infrastructure project of this nature will have its timescales and costs updated periodically, and this has not happened on HS2 since 2015.
“It is welcome that this updated information has been clarified, and we are encouraged by the transport secretary’s comments that the benefits of the scheme must not be obscured.
We must not lose sight of the importance of HS2 to the mission of joining up Britain. The scheme has already created 9000 jobs, and will help reduce the 40 per cent productivity gap between London and the north.
The project is essential, and irreplaceable, to the government’s goal of fixing the north-south divide which has beset Britain for generations. Already, it has triggered massive new private investment in Birmingham, and plans are well advanced in cities like Manchester and Leeds too. All of this would be scuppered by any decision to cancel or curtail HS2.
Read more: Government knew ‘for years’ that HS2 would bow its budget