DfT strips planning protection from 'canned' HS2 leg

Last week, the Government announced that it is removing safeguarding of HS2 Phase 2a land. In doing so, local authorities need no longer consult with HS2 Ltd on developing land previously allocated to the axed West Midlands-Crewe section of HS2.

As the UK's dream for inter-connected high-speed rail further withers, professor Andrew McNaughton explains why connectivity between cities and urban regions is vital to their survival, and why every effort should be made to revive the projects.

The consequences of the loss of Phase 2a of HS2, the barely 40-mile extension of Phase 1 from Lichfield to Crewe, will be significant and long-lasting to our country on a number of levels. It consigns the North of England to continuing to be left behind both economically and socially. As someone brought up and who has spent much of his career across the North, I am angry.

HS2 not only tripled passenger capacity, it also provided a future for sustainable freight logistics. It would seem that this government thinks there is an alternative future: sitting in a motorway traffic jam. But remember that HS2 has nearly three times the capacity in half the land take of a motorway.

Now the bigger picture. Where will our children and following generations live, work, play?

The 'magic' hour

Phase 1 is already enabling Birmingham to become a prosperous city region equal to the South East - a great region to live and work in. Nothing new there, except to be under an hour from the City of London, which is still one of just a few world centres of wealth creation and investment.

Why does that matter? Essentially because of that hour. Some things have changed little from pre-history, and one of them is the number of hours in a day.

People have a ‘travel time budget’, which is the time they will spend to access a better job, education, leisure activities, or meet people. And that is around an hour each way routinely - maybe 90 minutes if a few times a week or for something special.

Phase 1 of HS2 plugs the Birmingham city region into the City of London, the melting pot of world finance, law and modern engineering. It is why firms are re-locating to Birmingham - a better quality of life, yet still connected whenever they want, and bringing with them higher-quality, skilled 21^st century jobs. Single cities are individually too small to survive alone.

You can build a ‘world-class’ medical facility in the back of beyond, but you won’t attract the ‘world-class’ humans to want to work there if they are cut off. It’s called human capital... and it is far more important than financial capital. The critical mass factor explains why the City of London, or Singapore or Sydney Barangaroo, have such a density of entrepreneurs alongside finance and commercial law, irrespective of cost of living.

Let’s be clear, it is very important to connect our northern cities together. Liverpool facing the world, Manchester as a creative and media city, Leeds a financial one, the North East facing Europe and a centre of sustainable manufacturing. All will be stronger when people and goods can flow freely and more quickly between them.

Phase 2a was to complete the initial section of the connectivity spine of our country. The effect can be seen in other European countries where high-speed rail has brought city regions within an hour of each other. But because of London’s global standing, the only mega-city in Europe, the effect is even stronger.

Driving prosperity

If you think Britain is somehow different, please reflect on the effect of HS1 on the prosperity of the people of East Kent. Towns such as Margate and Ashford, the City of Canterbury, and their surrounds were dying before HS1. Too remote to retain skilled young people or attract new ones. Look at them now - thriving with new jobs and businesses. They are not just about commuters. Because they are now connected in an hour or less, they are prospering in their own right.

If the analogy I use of HS2 being a tree still holds, it is being cut back to a trunk without branches. And the roots are being hacked at, too. Without a Euston terminus in the heart of London, where people actually want to go, the tree (even the truncated one) dies. And if those Euston roots are constrained to give a windfall to local property developers, it becomes a bonsai. Frankly, it would become a worse position than never even starting HS2, soaking up money and resources with benefits only for Birmingham (even then only partially, given it would remain disconnected from the great cities of the North) and points south. In what way is that starting to correct the economic and social inequalities of this country?

The HS2 network could be revived (as it surely must be) at some point in the future, by leaders with the vision of those of all political colours for the thick end of a generation from 2007 to 2022. If we can do that, the whole railway will benefit from that discipline. And when that happens the people of this country - the reason any of our efforts matter - will prosper.

Article first published in RAIL Review Q4, 2023.