Gateway partners look to maximise HS2

A CROSS-BORDER partnership says it will be “linking up the Midlands engine with the Northern Powerhouse”, as it prepares for the confirmation of a HS2 station which is to be located in one of the two local enterprise partnership (LEP) areas.

An announcement on the location of the HS2 station, which Crewe and Stoke have lobbied hard for, is expected shortly.

Speaking at property exhibition MIPIM UK in London, where the concordat was formally signed, Philip Cox, chief executive of Cheshire and Warrington LEP, said: “The partnership itself is a commitment between Cheshire and Warrington and Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire LEPs to work together on all cross-border growth opportunities.”

The most pressing of those is the HS2, which is expected to be the linchpin for investment and development over the next decade.

“Although that will not be built until 2026-2027, we need to start planning now,” said Mr Cox.

“Investors are starting to go in, land prices are already going up around Crewe, and we need to prepare so we are ready for the station to arrive. We are linking up the Midlands engine with the Northern Powerhouse.”

The Northern Gateway Development Zone aims to unlock major growth and investment opportunities which could deliver more than 100,000 new homes and 120,000 new jobs by 2040.

Abi Brown, deputy leader of Stoke-on-Trent City Council, said: “The Northern Gateway Development Zone is part of the strategic economic plan, which lists the ambition of the city to be a core city, and we are moving in that direction.”

She added: “We know that HS2 will come to the sub-region somewhere. We can be grown up about it – one of us will get it – so it’s much better that we work together to do the best we can wherever it goes.

“Regardless of where the HS2 station lands, we are ready, able and willing to maximise that opportunity. We don’t fully know what the impact will be but we know it will be big.”