‘Tough’ questions as anti-HS2 groups faced Parliamentary committee

Jerry Marshall, chairman of Action Groups Against HS2, was among those invited to give evidence to the Transport Select Committee at the House of Commons.

The Government’s consultation ends on July 29, but MPs had just returned from the Continent, where representatives of high speed rail schemes had told them to ‘get on with it’.

Mr Marshall said: “Inevitably they were impressed - they were being taken round by people who were proud of their systems, but as Lord Woolf said, what government is ever going to say ‘we wish we hadn’t built it’.

“They were quite aggressive, but we made some clear points I hope they will take into account. Their job is to ask hard questions, I hope they are equally hard on those with different perspectives.”

Mr Marshall said campaigners had outlined surveys showing rail passengers in the UK were satisfied with current journey times, and showing that high speed systems in Europe were in difficulty.

He added one new scheme in Germany in fact only ran at similar speeds to the West Coast Main Line.

And he argued that investing in existing lines would increase rail capacity by 138 per cent, disputing that time spent on trains reduced businesses’ productivity.

Similar points were made in Warwickshire County Council’s response to the consultation, due to be endorsed by its cabinet yesterday (Thursday).

It says the authority is “not opposed to higher speed rail” but does not consider that HS2 “as proposed” is the answer.

It cites an “abundance” of national and international academic literature which questions claims that high speed rail quickens regeneration and will rebalance the north-south divide, saying the roll-out time is too long.

Deputy leader Cllr Bob Stevens (Con, Feldon) said: “We have major concerns about the national benefits of the scheme and whether there is a case for HS2 being in the national interest. Locally, the county will gain very limited economic benefit and many people will be adversely affected.

“The serious issues for Warwickshire to contend with include the lack of economic benefits and the significant environmental impact on our communities, the effect on emergency services, the severance of land and the impact on footpaths and rights of way and the road network. Combined with misgivings about the national business case, this makes the HS2 proposal unsustainable in our opinion.”