{"id":133997,"date":"2023-10-27T11:46:21","date_gmt":"2023-10-27T10:46:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/?p=133997"},"modified":"2023-10-27T11:46:21","modified_gmt":"2023-10-27T10:46:21","slug":"plans-sell-hs2-phase-2a-land-criticised","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/planning-construction-news\/plans-sell-hs2-phase-2a-land-criticised\/133997\/","title":{"rendered":"Plans to sell off HS2 Phase 2a land heavily criticised"},"content":{"rendered":"

A report from the High-Speed Rail Group warns that the government’s plan to sell off 2,900 acres of HS2 Phase 2a land between Birmingham and Crewe would be a mistake<\/h2>\n

Based on current land values, it’s estimated that the government would only make around \u00a3100m from the sale of Phase 2a<\/a> land, far less than the \u00a3200m initially invested by taxpayers.<\/p>\n

Due to the risk of financial loss to the taxpayer, the industry group urges the government to delay land sales until consultation involving local authorities, businesses, and rail stakeholders has occurred.<\/p>\n

Why is HS2 Phase 2a being sold off?<\/h3>\n

The plans come after the northern section of the HS2 project, linking Birmingham<\/a> to Manchester, was scrapped due to rising costs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Passengers from London can only travel as far as Birmingham on HS2 before switching to the existing West Coast Mainline to Manchester.<\/p>\n

According to the High-Speed Rail Group\u2019s analysis, Phase 2a is the most crucial part of the railway route. Without it, a permanent and irreversible bottleneck would be created at Colwich Junction in Staffordshire, severely limiting rail services’ capacity on the West Coast Main Line.<\/p>\n

Current plans would congest the rail system<\/h3>\n

A spokesperson for the High-Speed Rail Group compared the current proposal to funnelling traffic from the M40, which connects London to Birmingham, into an already congested A-road and then onto a narrow country lane.<\/p>\n

They emphasised the inefficiency and potential problems this would cause.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a recipe to lock in insufficient services and delayed trains for decades. At a time of extremely difficult public finances, the country surely cannot contemplate accepting a \u00a3100m loss of taxpayer\u2019s money like this,\u201d said the spokesperson.<\/p>\n

\u201cLand sales simply should not proceed until there has been a full analysis and consultation with stakeholders. Smart countries keep their options open for the future. Whilst the Government say they cannot fund HS2 north of Birmingham today, we need to protect the option to build it in future when public finances allow,\u201d they continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cA premature and hasty sale of public land would not only cost huge amounts of money but lock in the north-south gap for generations to come. The Government needs to think again,\u201d concluded the spokesperson.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A report from the High-Speed Rail Group warns that the government’s plan to sell off 2,900 acres of HS2 Phase 2a land between Birmingham and Crewe would be a mistake.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[304],"tags":[473,928,280],"stakeholder_rel_tag":[],"contributor_rel_tag":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-133997","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-planning-construction-news","7":"tag-hs2","8":"tag-rail-network","9":"tag-transport"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPlans to sell off HS2 Phase 2a land heavily criticised<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A report from the High-Speed Rail Group warns that the 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