Think tank’s warning over HS2

A HIGH speed rail link to HS2 for Liverpool is essential if the Chancellor’s decision to build a Northern Powerhouse is to succeed, according to a report from the independent think tank ResPublica.

In Ticket to Ride: How high speed rail for Liverpool can realise the Northern Powerhouse, ResPublicasays northern cities need a dedicated High Speed link to HS2 if they are to reach the level of economic success that the Chancellor wants.
 
Report authors say Liverpool and other Northern cities will be left behind if HS2 doesn’t go beyond favoured cities and locations.

The cost of extending HS2 to Liverpool would be less than £3bN and for the first time in the UK up to two thirds of cost could be self-financed by City Region through the local retention of taxes.

Liverpool Mayor Joe Anderson said: “The need for Liverpool to be connected to both the other cities of the North and London is huge if we as a city are going to play our part in generating money, jobs and continued growth through the Northern Powerhouse.

“Our funding plan would make up the bulk of the price with £2 billion coming from keeping hold of locally raised taxes, rather than sending them to the Treasury. Using this mechanism would allow both ourselves and the wider economy to move closer to prosperity.”

ResPublica’s proposal would see a dedicated high speed rail line linking the Liverpool City Region into the HS2 route to the north of Crewe, and connecting it to Manchester Airport and Manchester Piccadilly on high speed track.
 
This link in turn will also be the westernmost branch of the planned east-west “HS3” or “TransNorth” route running from Liverpool to Hull and reconnecting the great cities of the north.

The funding plan would establish a local payback system via a tax increment financing scheme to allow the City Region to fund up to two thirds of the cost of the Liverpool-Manchester link.

The City Region says it can credibly make a contribution of up to £2bn towards the cost of the line, paid for by employers’ National Insurance contributions in the area from any additional jobs alongside capitalisation of revenue from the Mersey Tunnels tolls.

ResPublica says that while the current plans for HS2 would create a new stream of wealth, cities like Liverpool, Newcastle, and Hull face being left behind.
 
Director of ResPublica Phillip Blond, said “High speed rail offers a real chance to make the Northern Powerhouse work but it has to connect the cities of the north with each other, as well as London.

“If we don’t extend the North South HS2 into an East West HS3 – the real benefits and gains from high speed rail will be lost.

“Both HS2 and HS3 could start in Liverpool and with the city able to find most of the fundsthere is no reason for the government to ignore this detailed and transformative proposal.”

Currently, rail lines in the Liverpool City Region are crowded and the government’s proposed limited link from Liverpool to HS2 running from Crewe on old classic lines, while cutting journey times, would not allow Liverpool to grow, the organisation says.
 
This would severely constrain the Liverpool Superport project which needs extra East West rail capacity to take advantage of the potential trebling of freight into Liverpool as a result of recent investment.

ResPublica highlighted Spain and South Korea as two examples where a limited high speed link to the capital for favoured provincial cities failed to stop economic disparity between the capital and the regions because all that was achieved was a swifter path for economic flight to the centre.

 Blond added: “Without a proper link between northern cities the chance to make them grow and prosper will be lost, leaving HS2 achieving only a small part of its potential.

“Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield, Hull and the other great cities want to work together to succeed and they should be given the tools to do so. HS2 needs to be extended into HS3”

The report also found that Liverpool should strengthen its ties with Manchester, marketing itself as a joint destination for both business and tourism and generating further growth.

Report co-author Duncan Sim said: “We need all the cities of the north to be linked up properly in order to create the Northern Powerhouse, desired by so many. Starting a high speed line in Liverpool would see a connected network of cities which would create trade, jobs and higher wages across the North.”