HS2 chairman rebuts accusations of overspending

HS2 Ltd Chairman Mark Thurston has told the BBC he is not worried about overspending, because he is confident that the project can be delivered with the budget provided.

He delivered his assurances in a Panorama programme ( HS2 - Going off the Rails) that made claims regarding overspending.

Broadcast on December 17, the programme heard from HS2 Ltd’s former Land and Property Director Doug Thornton, who claimed that early land and property cost estimates considered by MPs when deciding to give approval for the project were “enormously wrong”.

“There was a gap of almost 100% in terms of the numbers, wrong numbers of properties that the organisation had not budgeted for,” claimed Thornton.

In response, Thurston told the BBC: “It’s perfectly normal that in a scheme as vast and as complex as HS2, that over time we have a greater understanding of the alignment of the route, how many land parcels and land areas it affects, and what the full extent of the acquisition programme needs to be.”

When he resigned as chairman of Crossrail and HS2 Ltd, Sir Terry Morgan warned there was a challenge inside the project to stay on time and on budget.

Following the programme’s broadcast, an HS2 Ltd spokesman told RAIL that the claims were basically the same as published by The Sunday Times in August, when the newspaper also spoke to Thornton.

The spokesman added that since then the National Audit Office has investigated the project and concluded that cost estimates were reasonable, given how early in the programme it was.