Council Leader backs calls on HS2

Blackburn with Darwen Council has echoed calls from northern leaders to Government to not scrap the HS2 link between Birmingham and Manchester.

At its Board meeting this week in Leeds, Transport for the North (TfN) – and leaders from across the North of England – reaffirmed their position that both HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) projects should be built in full.

They said the projects are critical to unlocking the North’s economic potential by addressing the poor connectivity that holds the region back.

Blackburn with Darwen Council was represented at the meeting by Council Leader, Cllr Phil Riley.

Cllr Riley said:

It is the communities and businesses across the North of England who are suffering most by any delay or inaction in delivering these schemes.

If HS2 is stopped now the country will get the worst of all options – huge public expense and environmental destruction to deliver a train line that does not achieve any of the original purposes. It will run from Old Oak Common in West London to Birmingham and it will be quicker to use the existing travel options from Euston station to Birmingham than the new ‘high speed’ line. What an indictment of the government’s lack of ambition and inability to see a major infrastructure project through to its conclusion.