HS2: Planning restrictions lifted by Transport Secretary
Planning protection along the scrapped HS2 route has been lifted by the transport secretary.
People can now apply to build on land between Birmingham and Crewe and councils no longer need to consult with HS2 on planning applications within the safeguarded area.
The HS2 line between Birmingham and Manchester was axed by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in his keynote speech at the Tory Party conference in Manchester in October.
Land has now been released by transport secretary Mark Harper, who has lifted safeguarding directions along the route, which protected the land needed for HS2 from potential conflicting development.
Harper has kept safeguarding in place around land at Handsacre, near Lichfield to allow Phase One of HS2 to connect to the West Coast Main Line.
This connection at Handsacre will allow passengers to travel on HS2 trains through to Manchester, Liverpool and Scotland, joining the West Coast Main Line for the rest of their journeys.
Harper also claims the upgraded Handsacre will reduce the journey time between London and Manchester by nearly half an hour (down to 100 minutes).
He said by lifting safeguarding, the government “provides certainty to people along the former route” and “makes development easier”.
For areas where safeguarding has been removed, Harper will be releasing further details on what will happen to properties which were bought on what would have been HS2 land and are now no longer needed.
HS2 is writing to the owners of properties affected by this update explaining what these changes mean to them personally.
Mick Whelan, general secretary of ASLEF, the train drivers’ union, has commented: “This government continues to put the economy into decline with no policy or ambition for integrated transport or a green future. The only wreckers and luddites on show are those who will be judged by future generations by their failures.
“The deliberate spiteful nature of releasing the land means we do not now have the capacity required for either passenger or freight. This will result in future generations being priced off the railway and economic growth and opportunity denied.
“Any talk of levelling up is a farce. Thirteen years of austerity and economic illiteracy have made the nation that invented railway the laughing stock of the world as we approach the railway’s two hundredth anniversary.”
