Government set to defy protests and fast track HS2

THE Government is set to defy opposition from Conservative MPs and fast track development of the £17bn high speed rail link between Birmingham and London, new Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin has said.

Still reeling from the debacle surrounding the award of the franchise for the vital West Coast Main Line, Mr McLoughlin indicated in an interview with a national newspaper that the plans for the HS2 link would proceed without any significant alterations.

Opposition to the route in Tory heartlands such as Amersham had threatened to temporarily derail the scheme, while public protests in parts of Warwickshire and Staffordshire have also raised questions about the viability of the project.

However, Mr McLoughlin said the rail link had the full support of both the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who believed it was vital the country looked to the future and assessed which projects were likely to deliver long term benefits for the country.

Mr McLoughlin acknowledged that the scheme was likely to upset people in some areas but added it was vital the work was carried out as soon as possible. He even admitted he was prepared to work with Labour counterparts to get the scheme to fruition as quickly as he could.

Timescales for the project’s completion are difficult to predict. The Government has said it wants the route open as soon as possible but planning restrictions are likely to inhibit progress.

Nevertheless, the Transport Secretary said he was prepared to bring forward legislation in the next Queen’s Speech so that work could start before the end of the coalition’s term of office in 2015.

Campaigners in favour of the route expressed their disappointment earlier this year when the Queen’s Speech failed to make any reference to the route.

Birmingham is intended to be the hub of the high speed rail network and estimates are that it will create 22,000 jobs for the area and be worth £1.5bn per year to the regional GDP.

The 100-mile rail link, which was scheduled to be built between 2016 and 2026, aims to cut the London-to-Birmingham journey time to 49 minutes.

A Y-shape spur north of Birmingham will allow for phase 2 of the project, which will see separate high speed lines linking the network to Manchester and Leeds. The full cost of the project is estimated at around £32bn.