Sheffield makes case for city centre HS2 station
THE leader of Sheffield City Council has outlined the need for Government to focus on taking the actions needed to make sure cities like Sheffield benefit from the HS2 project.
Ahead of the launch of Sir David Higgin’s next report on HS2 due to be launched on Monday, Julie Dore, who is also a High Speed 2 Growth Task Force member, said that under current plans, Sheffield’s HS2 station is only estimated to create 3,500 jobs compared to 29,700 in Manchester and 13,200 in Leeds.
“The key difference is that Sheffield will have a parkway station four miles outside the city centre in contrast to the other cities that have a station in the heart of their economic centres,” she said.
“This will put Sheffield City Region at a permanent competitive disadvantage compared to the neighbouring city regions and undermine Sheffield’s role in a new Northern powerhouse economy.
“A city centre station would give extra jobs to all of the Sheffield City Region at a time when it is aiming to create 70,000 net new jobs.”
The campaign for a city centre station is supported by Sheffield Chamber of Commerce, Irwin Mitchell, HLW Keeble Lawson, the University of Sheffield, Sheffield Hallam University, Grant Thornton and Scottish Widows.
