Business leaders back HS2 plans
NORTH West business leaders are throwing their weight behind the planned High Speed Rail upgrade.
Speaking at a briefing meeting yesterday with rail minister Theresa Villiers at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, which included the Alison Munro, chief executive of HS2 Ltd and Manchester council leader Sir Richard Leese, the North West Business Leadership team hailed the project’s “massive long-term benefits.”
Leader Geoffrey Piper said there were four major reasons to support the multi-billion pound project, which will begin with the London to Birmingham line being upgraded and then move to the West Coast and East Coast main lines.
He said HS2 would deliver “urgently needed extra capacity; provide flexibility for a wide range of both passenger and freight services; bring UK cities closer together and enable environmental and economic benefits to continue to flow for the UK for many years to come.”
Liverpool Chamber of Commerce also attended the briefing .
Jack Stopforth, chief executive at Liverpool Chamber said: “The Chamber has long supported HS2 and lobbied for the programme to venture North as early as possible. This is a programme of national importance – not merely of regional significance – as the rebalancing of the economy can only be achieved with an even-handed approach to public infrastructure investment in the longer term.
“The business case for the scheme is irrefutable: each pound spent will generate £2.60 in benefits and it is estimated that the first phase alone will create up to 40,000 new jobs.
“HS2 will also support the competitiveness of UK PLC and the region’s transition to a Low-Carbon Economy while providing a world-class transport network to match the ongoing globally competitive developments in Liverpool and the wider North-West.”
