Warwickshire business group slams scrapping of Birmingham to Manchester HS2 line

A leading regional business group has hit out at the cancellation of HS2 between Birmingham and Manchester.

The Prime Minister confirmed at the Conservative Party Conference that the new line between Manchester and Birmingham will no longer be built, despite years of planning.

Corin Crane, chief executive of Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce, said it is an opportunity wasted and that the decision is the ‘opposite of levelling up.”

He said: “This is an incredibly frustrating decision for businesses across the Midlands and the North of England and the fact that this two-week debate about whether it was speculation or not has been played out in public, is frankly insulting.

“Hundreds of thousands of hours have been wasted planning this project, community-changing regeneration plans are now not feasible along the route, businesses and residents have already been moved to clear the way for a line that will never appear and overseas investors will be looking at the UK in bewilderment.

“Now, we must start another decades-long planning process to get our infrastructure reform started and businesses across our region will continue to see their trucks stuck on motorways with no capacity for freight and their staff stuck on trains with no more capacity for passengers. This is the opposite of levelling up.”

Kenilworth resident Joe Rukin, founder of Stop HS2, has a different view.

He said : “Cancelling Phase 2 of HS2 proves exactly what we have been saying since the start, that the project hadn’t been thought through properly, it couldn’t be delivered, it would delivere the maximum possible damage to the environment and communities and was going to cost billions more than expected.”

“What was needed in terms of transport infrastructure was smaller local transport projects which benefit far more people and can be delivered far more quickly and for less money, and now we have been totally vindicated in that approach.

"The only problem is how much has been wasted on the most expensive train wreck in history.”