Extra £43bn needed to ‘make the most’ of HS2

MINISTERS must spend an extra £43billion to make the construction of High Speed 2 worthwhile, the Government’s infrastructure tsar suggests today.

Sir John Armitt, the chairman of the National Infrastructure Commission, says the sum, which would double the amount attributed to the high speed line five years ago, is needed to “make the most” of the railway line.

Writing in The Sunday Telegraph, Sir John, in his first intervention on the project, which is officially costed at £56billion, warns that passengers of the service face “inadequate” transport links at either end of their journeys.

“We cannot simply construct a new high speed rail line and leave it at that: to get the biggest bang for our buck we need to think about the whole journey that passengers will take,” he says.

Concerns are mounting about the cost of the project, which a Cabinet Office assessment said was “highly likely” to overrun by 60 per cent, exceeding £80billion. One minister said that the spiralling costs could lead to cost-cutting on the grass banks and bridges designed to mask the track.

Separately, David Lidington, the Cabinet Office Minister and de facto deputy prime minister, has posted an article on his website criticising the “early, abysmal communications” between HS2 Ltd, the government-sponsored body responsible for the scheme, and warning that “there is still some way to go before there is a real culture of being open with residents about the development of detailed plans”.

HS2 responded that it was “work[ing] hard” to ensure the concerns of residents “are understood and impacts are minimised”.

Last week it emerged that £4.1billion had already been spent on the line before construction has even begun. In his article, Sir John defends the costs and states that cities outside London need “a £43billion boost in funding up to 2040, on top of current spending levels, and in addition to investment in Northern Powerhouse Rail and Crossrail 2.”

“Alongside investment in rail links across the country, we need to better fund improvements to transport within our cities,” he said. Sir John took over as chairman of the Commission in January following the departure of Lord

Adonis, who was one of the original architects of the scheme as transport secretary under Gordon Brown.

In an article posted on his website as MP for Aylesbury, Bucks, in April, Mr Lidington said he had been glad to hear that the trust responsible for Hughenden Manor, the country home of Benjamin Disraeli, was holding regular talks with HS2 “about how to mitigate the scheme’s environmental impact”.

Dame Cheryl Gillan, the Tory MP and former Welsh secretary, who campaigned against HS2, said: “One of the major problems has always been that the connectivity is not there.

“But I don’t think anybody expected it to be twice the cost. This is money that wouldn’t be going into schools, the health service and making the existing railway system efficient and effective.

“It’s time for the Government to re-evaluate from top to bottom whether this project is value for money for the taxpayer.”

An HS2 spokesman insisted that the project “remains on track and within our funding envelope”.

“We will be delivering a green corridor alongside the railway – a network of wildlife habitats, woodlands and community spaces featuring seven million new trees and shrubs on the route from London to Birmingham alone,” she added.

The scheme is also “already supporting thousands of jobs... and building the skills base we need to export around the world”.

A Department for Transport spokesman added that the Government was spending more than £13billion by 2020 “to transform transport across the North…We are keeping a tough grip on costs and HS2 is on time and on budget,” the spokesman said. “HS2 will become the backbone of our national rail network – creating more seats for passengers, supporting growth and regeneration, and helping us build an economy that works for everyone.”