Countryside charity CPRE Cheshire has called on major investment to be pumped into local rail services instead of HS2.
The Cheshire branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England has questioned the justification for HS2 Phase 2b.
It came in a joint response submitted by the charity’s North West group to the call for evidence on rail investment priorities for the North and Midlands from the National Infrastructure Commission.
They say HS2 Phase 2b – connecting Crewe to Manchester and the Midlands to Leeds – is considered by many to be a vanity project which has many flaws.
They fear it poses “substantial and significant harms” to the environment to the extent CPRE Cheshire “cannot support it” despite longstanding campaigning for greater investment in rail and modal shift to rail.
Peter Raynes, Chair of CPRE Cheshire, said: “CPRE is an advocate of more rail usage in England.
“We want improvements to the connectivity and capacity of the main towns and cities across Cheshire, Lancashire and Cumbria and to our rural places.
“The Government needs to undertake a serious review of its transport policies in order to properly respond to the Climate Emergency.
“Road building should be an option of last resort with adequate commitment to rail investment to optimise a modern rail system.
“We trust that the National Infrastructure Commission will listen.”
They say the case made for Phase 2b should be revisited in light of the Climate Emergency, post-Covid19 challenges and against ‘The Heathrow Decision’.
CPRE Cheshire says it supports the need to connect HS2 Phase 1/2a onto the West Coast Mainline to allow classic-compatible trains to reach Macclesfield and Manchester prior to Phase 2b.
It would also allow HS2 services to reach Liverpool much earlier than envisaged.
But it wants local rail issues to be prioritised, including reopening the Middlewich line to improve access from Northwich and Knutsford to the West Coast Main Line at Crewe as well as giving Middlewich residents access to the rail network.
Currently, Middlewich is the largest town in Cheshire without a railway station.
When will people understand that HS2 is NOT only about reduced travel times south towards London! The West Coast Route is congested and the real benefit of HS2 is to free up paths on the existing lines to allow more local services and, crucially, many more slower freight paths, further reducing the current levels of road freight! That is the real and lasting benefit that makes the High Speed Rail network essential.
I’ve heard this ‘congestion’ argument before. What is the evidence for this?
cost of HS2 is £100 billion and if cross rail is anything to go by it will.probsly rise to £200 billiom
I agree 100%. The covid epidemic has demonstrated that people can work from home and communicate via e mail, telephone and video conferences. We do NOT need a high speed railway so people can travel to London 30mins quicker than before. The HS2 project is only an ego trip for politicians, it has no practical use, covid has proved that we do not need it. We can then spend £100M on things the country desperately need.
HS2 is a waste of taxpayers money and needs to be stopped.
just a couple of things it’s only 15 minutes less to Birmingham from London and HS2 is costing £100 Billion pounds not millions and if as normal costs rise look at cross rail it will probably end up £200 billion