HS2 station issue

Sheffield location still unclear

AT THE start of 2013, South Yorkshire looked as though it was heading towards a bright, high speed future. The Government announced that a new HS2 station would be built at Meadowhall, close to the shopping complex north of Sheffield, with the then Deputy Prime Minister and Sheffield Hallam MP Nick Clegg eulogising that this would help heal the “northsouth divide that we have had in our economy for far, far too long”.

However, rather than uniting behind this bold vision South Yorkshire’s civic leaders became embroiled in a bitter row, with Sheffield Council spearheading a campaign to get the station moved to the city centre against the wishes of other South Yorkshire councils who preferred Meadowhall.

Five years on and Sheffield is no longer on the main HS2 route, meaning train journeys to London will take longer than those from Leeds 40 miles to the north. Not only that, but the people of South Yorkshire are still none the wiser as to where the new highspeed rail parkway station will be located.

The man in charge of HS2, David Higgins, said the station should still happen but that it was down to local council leaders to reach an agreement. Given the collapse of the £900m Sheffield City Region devolution deal, the likelihood of them agreeing seems more distant than ever. But agree they must, or they run the risk of South Yorkshire falling even further behind its rivals.

Quite simply, council leaders need to put aside past differences and do what is best for the whole region, not just their own fiefdoms. Too much time has been squandered already.