HS2 has revved the Midlands Engine, now let’s accelerate it

IN recent weeks we’ve heard lots from HS2 sceptics on their latest criticisms of the project, or the latest wheeze for new ways to spend HS2’s budget.

But the fact remains that Britain has been a divided country for too long, and HS2 is the only game in town that addresses the north-south imbalance.

There are alarming disparities in wealth and opportunity between our cities and regions. London and the South East have attracted Government and private investment and have continued to thrive to the point of over-heating. In spite of progress in centres like Birmingham, the general story is that the great cities of the Midlands and their so-important hinterlands, once the Crown Jewels of the industrial revolution, have seen decades of slower growth, lower productivity and often stagnant wages.

The quality of transport links remains a critical factor in this malaise.

The upcoming Spending Review is an opportunity for the Government to commit to addressing this imbalance and bringing Britain back together again.

Published this week, the High Speed Rail Industry Leaders (HSRIL) report, Why Britain needs HS2, details how, in Sir John Peace’s words, HS2 is fundamentally about smashing the north-south divide.

Without HS2, put simply, the country has no strategy to achieve this.

The business connectivity benefits from HS2 is 21 per cent for the West Midlands, compared to only a 9 per cent improvement for London. This is why HS2, along with complementary investments for travel within city regions, is so vital to the economic transformation of the Midlands.

We already know that cities across the Midlands are developing their urban strategies and securing public investment on the assumption that HS2 is completed in full.

Birmingham has benefited hugely from significant inward investment, with companies like HSBC and PwC now locating major parts of their businesses here.

But it isn’t only the major cities that will benefit. The advantages of HS2 will spread widely to places beyond those on the line of the route.

By freeing up capacity on existing railway lines, we estimate that people in at least 22 cities and towns will benefit from better rail services as result of HS2. In the Midlands alone, this includes Coventry, Tamworth, Lichfield, Retford, Newark, Shrewsbury, Telford, Wolverhampton and Grantham.

In recent months, the debate about whether the project should proceed has never been louder. In the course of the Conservative leadership contest, it has been suggested that the remaining elements of the project (going north of Birmingham) should be scrapped.

But this would simply leave the job unfinished, failing to fully realise the capacity and connectivity a complete HS2 route will offer to the midlands and north of England.

Phase 2b of development is of particular importance to the region, with its eastern leg running from the West Midlands to Leeds with connections to the Midland Main Line and East Coast Mainline.

A failure to fully tap into this potential would be both uneconomical and thoughtless, leaving Birmingham stuck with today’s poor connections to Yorkshire and the North East.

HS2’s detractors have also been highly critical of its costs. Nationally transformative infrastructure projects, we acknowledge, are costly. But when considered as part of the Government’s overall spending programme, the costs of HS2 are both affordable and good value.

HS2 is a large-scale project but its costs amount to less than 0.4 per cent of total public spending in the period ahead.

In light of such criticisms, Westminster politicians would be advised to look to their devolved authorities on the issue.

Only last month Conservative Mayor of the West Midlands Andy Street asked that any future Conservative leader recognised the importance of the regions, suggesting that “a firm pledge to support HS2, as part of a comprehensive investment in addressing historic underinvestment in regional infrastructure, is the most clear signal of a commitment to Britain beyond London.”

For politicians to turn their back on this commitment, said Street, is “unthinkable.”

These factors lead to one inescapable conclusion. HS2 must be delivered in full. The evidence is overwhelming. There is no Plan B for tackling the north-south divide.

Jim Steer is director of High Speed

Rail Industry Leaders