Money for HS2 better spent elsewhere
From: Coun Robert Elliott (Ukip), Wingfield Ward, Rotherham Council.
I READ the article written by Pete Waterman on HS2 (The Yorkshire Post, February 2) which was full of bluff and unsubstantiated facts, for instance how HS2 will improve journey times to London from Doncaster, thus providing Doncaster with a potential economic boost. The only problem with that statement is that HS2 is not going to Doncaster.
Probably the only truth in the article is that any mention of HS2 in our area is met with a lukewarm response. Well, he is correct there and little wonder – the cost of the project is now forecast by some to be upwards of £100bn.
People in the North think that this a colossal waste of money which could be invested elsewhere, for instance the Woodhead route to Manchester, cross-country railways, local infrastructure, health, education, the list is endless.
This white elephant HS2 should be scrapped and the savings invested in areas starved of funding for decades.
From: Bob Watson, Baildon.
IT was good to read (The Yorkshire Post, February 8) that the board of Transport for the North has now agreed that the business case for the £39bn Northern Powerhouse Rail project is ready to be handed to the Government.
Following on from that, it is imperative that the Government commits to long-term funding for the scheme, and that it starts relatively imminently, and not what might seem to many as light years away.
There is though, in my eyes, one major flaw in this submission. If Bradford is to properly reap the benefits of this project, then it is surely absolutely vital that it has a station in the city centre, and certainly not some parkway station on the outskirts.
It was therefore hugely disappointing to read that the key features of the submission included the option of either a Bradford city centre station or a parkway site.
This has to be a huge mistake, dangling the carrot of the cheaper option. It would do no favours at all to Bradford and really needs to be discarded now.