Patrick McLoughlin to make speech in Birmingham where there has been a mixed reaction to the high-speed link
Patrick McLoughlin, the transport secretary, will on Wednesday make the economic case for the HS2 rail project by insisting that the high-speed link will give an annual £15bn boost to the economy, with the north and Midlands gaining at least double the benefit gained by the south.
In a speech in Birmingham, McLoughlin is planning to depict HS2 as a "heart bypass" for congested train lines and roads, claiming that speed will be a secondary concern, though the link will reportedly reduce the train journey between London and Birmingham to just 45 minutes.
"Speed is not the main reason for building the new railway. The main reason we need HS2 is as a heart bypass for the clogged arteries of our transport system," McLoughlin will say.
There was mixed reaction in Birmingham, one of the cities most affected, to the government's insistence that it would ease busy train lines.
While the city council, business leaders, big companies and local transport chiefs are campaigning strongly for the multibillion-pound scheme, it is clear that smaller business owners, commuters and many of the general public remain to be convinced about the project.
Steve Brittan, president of the Birmingham chamber of commerce, and managing director of BSA Machine Tools in the city, said it was vital for the region that more effective transport links were created.
"We're at the centre of the country and we're surrounded by transport difficulties," Brittan said. "The roads are full, the trains packed. We don't have the capacity to get people around effectively. On the roads we're stuck between lorries and white vans while our railway system is more than 100 years old and too small to work."
Geoff Inskip, chief executive of the regional transport authority Centro, said that without HS2 the west coast main line, which links London to the Midlands, the north of England and central belt of Scotland, would be full by the early 2020s and services would face closure.
"We need more capacity or the system will become too crowded to function," he said.
The chamber and Centro are part of Go-HS2, a group in the city campaigning for the project.
Also signed up are the Labour-led city council, which believes the line will create up to 50,000 jobs in the West Midlands and boost its economy to the tune of £4bn a year, Birmingham airport, and the NEC exhibition centre.
A passionate HS2 backer is Deborah Smith, who runs a PR firm from Solihull and is behind the Hands up for High Speed 2 website. A relative newcomer to the West Midlands, she believes HS2 will help bolster the region and stop talented young people feeling they had to leave for London. "I feel that HS2 is a once-in-a-generation chance to do something bold to really invest in the regions outside London," she said.
Smith accepts her motive is to help her two sons, now aged three and five, to grow up in a prosperous and forward-thinking area of which they can be proud.
In Birmingham's jewellery quarter, most small-business owners were more cynical.
Eric Goodby, 54, who runs an engraving and jewellery design firm with his father, Ken, 81, claimed Birmingham would be turned into a glorified dormitory town for London commuters.
A few doors along, Carl Longshaw, a metal spinner who produces goods ranging from hubcaps to replica FA Cups, dismissed HS2 as a terrible idea. "It's a white elephant, too expensive and it goes too close to my home in Tamworth," he said.
Colin Ashford, who makes cufflinks, medals and regalia for Freemasons, in a Victorian workshop, doubted the government's figures on jobs and growth. "I'm not sure where they get them from," he said.
But Andy Williams, manager of the Creative Watch Company, was enthusiastic. "It would be good for the city and good for the region. Anything that has the potential to get more people here has to be welcomed."
Commuters on the 7.49am Wolverhampton to Birmingham New Street service on Tuesday morning were also divided. The London Midland train arrived 14 minutes late, partly because it was stuck behind a late-running Virgin train from Manchester to London.
Sally Gray, a shop worker, said she was fed up failing to get a seat on the train. "And you also have to factor in an extra 10 minutes every day because it can be late. I'd be all for the high-speed service if it frees up this line."
Simon Jones, an office worker, said he tended to believe not ministers but the public accounts committee. "All you hear is that it is going to be over-budget and won't really work. I'm deeply sceptical. I'm not sure we're good enough at delivering huge projects like this. I hope I'm proved wrong."
This week, the committee blasted the HS2 project, claiming it was beset by spiralling costs, lack of expertise and unrealistic delivery timetables.
Article Source : http://www.guardian.co.uk
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