Stoke-on-Trent City Council vows to fight on despite HS2 rejection
STOKE-on-Trent City Council’s leader has said he wants to keep fighting to bring a high-speed rail station to the city despite seemingly losing out to Crewe.
A recommendation to use Crewe as a hub was confirmed in a report by HS2 boss Sir David Higgins yesterday.
A final decision will be made by the Government next year with Stoke hoping it will ignore Sir David’s recommendations. Many observers see this as an unlikely scenario.
But Stoke-on-Trent City Council Labour leader Mohammed Pervez, who had said the Stoke route would generate about £200m extra growth for the regional economy, told the BBC he still hoped the authority could influence the Government to choose the city.
“It’s important to note, this is still just a proposal by Sir David Higgins,” he said.
“Our fight will be with the Government to ensure they are listening to us, they understand the consequences of their decision on the economy of Stoke-on-Trent and north Staffordshire and… I hope the Government will come up with a series of measures that will address those concerns.”
He said £500,000 had been spent on Stoke’s HS2 lobbying campaign.
The Crewe option would be an out-of-town station while Stoke-on-Trent had proposed a city centre station linked to its university quarter.
In his report, which looked at ways of maximising the benefits of HS2, Sir David recommended staying with the proposal to split the HS2 line in two after the London to Birmingham stage is completed.
Crewe would be part of a western leg which would run from Birmingham to Manchester. An eastern leg would stretch from Birmingham to Leeds via the East Midlands and South Yorkshire.
Sir David noted the strong case made by Stoke but said making Crewe a hub for HS2 was the “best way to serve not just the local region, but also provide services into the rest of the North West, north Wales and Merseyside”.
Construction of HS2 is due to start in 2017, with phase one from London to Birmingham due to be completed by 2026.
