‘High-speed rail will reach city on time’

Six-figure salaries of officials defended

High-speed rail will reach Leeds on time by 2033 despite delays to legislation to allow the project to go ahead, HS2 has said.

Tom Kelly, director of stakeholder engagement, said the project was running on time. He also defended six-figure salaries and perks reportedly paid to one in four officials.

HIGH-SPEED RAIL will reach Leeds on time by 2033 despite delays to legislation to allow the project to go ahead, HS2 has said.

Tom Kelly, the director of stakeholder engagement, insisted the £56bn project was running on time and on budget, and reiterated the Department for Transport’s assertion that the delay to 2020 to the Bill for phase two was designed to ensure HS2 can link up with Northern Powerhouse Rail, the proposed scheme to boost east-west rail connections across the North.

Mr Kelly said the decision to delay the Bill by a year “doesn’t change the end date”.

He told reporters: “This allows us to integrate into the existing network, so that’s a good thing.”

Mr Kelly also defended sixfigure salaries and perks reportedly paid to one in four officials at HS2, arguing it needs to compete with transport projects globally.

But he admitted some of the £4.1bn already spent by HS2 before construction has even begun could have been controlled more wisely.

HS2 was also criticised last month after Cabinet Office data showed that HS2 Ltd, the taxpayer-owned company behind the project, paid 51 employees at least £150,000 per year in the year to September 2017.

Mr Kelly said the recent departure of Paul Griffiths, managing director of phase two of the project, showed that HS2 needs to pay “competitive” salaries.

“Our phase 2 director has just been poached to head up a major infrastructure project in Toronto.

“This is a global business,” he said. “The amount of salary we have to pay is decided by the market, we can’t order people to work for HS2.”

Mr Kelly said cities like Leeds are already feeling the benefits of HS2, which he said is driving economic regeneration.

“The plans they have got for the South Bank, it’s entirely built on being close to the station and using that to completely regenerate that side of the city,” he said.

“All I can say is I think Leeds have been very, very proactive in the way they have used HS2 not just to develop that South Bank area but the technology area that is going to be around our depot as well.”