HS2 setback leaves Leeds in limbo
THE future of HS2 has been thrown into fresh doubt after ministers said they are giving the Manchester leg of the Northern branches priority over Leeds.
The £106billion high- speed railway is planned to split in two after Birmingham, with separate lines going to each city.
The Leeds leg is regarded as one of the most economically important parts of the project, providing much-needed improvements to North-South rail links.
But yesterday HS2 minister Andrew Stephenson said key decisions on the vital stretch would be deferred because ministers are ‘prioritising the development of the western leg into Manchester’.
As fears grew that ministers could be looking for ways to scale back the project, extransport secretary Lord Adonis claimed the extension of HS2 to Leeds ‘will probably not go ahead’ as a result of the decision. The
Labour peer said: ‘The economic and social consequences of today’s HS2 decision are profound. Metropolitan growth in England north of London will now concentrate on (the) Birmingham-Manchester corridor.
‘The whole eastern side of England, withproposed out HS2, is downgraded. A catastrophically big and bad decision.’ Mr Stephenson described Lord Adonis’ claims as ‘simply untrue’ but admitted design decisions around the eastern leg have been delayed while the Government works out how it will integrate with Northern Powerhouse Rail, a East-West link joining Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds and Newcastle.
Campaigners fear delays to decisions on the Leeds leg will leave it vulnerable to cuts. There are concerns that failure to build HS2 in its entirety will fatally undermine Boris Johnson’s plan to ‘level up’ the regions.
It would also trigger a revolt among voters in the North who backed the Tories for the first time in December. In January, the Prime Minister vowed to accelerate the timetable that would see high-speed lines to Manchester and Leeds open by 2040. Tim Wood, of Transport for the North, a group of northern leaders, said the eastern leg ‘would deliver unrivalled rail connectivity to communities’. The first 225mph trains are set to start running between Old Oak Common and Birmingham from between 2029 and 2031, cutting journeys between Birmingham and London from 1hr 21mins to 45 minutes.
‘Catastrophically big and bad decision’