CAMPAIGNERS against HS2 have said a decision to proceed with building the expensive railway despite multi-billion-pound coronavirus bailout measures is “shamelessly opportunistic.”
The Department for Transport (DfT) yesterday (April 16) confirmed the high-speed rail line will enter its construction phase by issuing a ‘notice to proceed.’
The chief executive of HS2 Ltd, Mark Thurston, said the go-ahead gave an ‘immediate boost’ to the construction industry as the economy is throttled by the coronavirus pandemic.
Work has been underway for months to clear land for the railway, including in ancient woodlands such as Crackley Woods near Kenilworth and at Cubbington. Traffic disruption for preparatory works has been seen at Balsall Common, Burton Green, Stoneleigh and other locations.
The government’s minister for HS2, Andrew Stephenson, said: “While the government’s top priority is rightly to combat the spread of coronavirus, we cannot delay work on our long-term plan to level up the country.
“HS2 will be the spine of the country’s transport network, boosting capacity and connectivity while also rebalancing opportunity fairly across our towns and cities.
“Following the decision earlier this year to proceed with the project, this next step provides thousands of construction workers and businesses across the country with certainty at a time when they need it.”
Work could proceed with engineers observing ‘social distancing’, the government suggested.
Campaigners against the railway, predicted to cost more than £100 billion, accused the government of allowing the project to continue ‘like the Titanic’.
Stop HS2 campaigner Joe Rukin said: ““Issuing HS2 with ‘Notice to Proceed’ at a time when there is next to no scrutiny taking place is not only shamelessly opportunistic, but it is pretending that coronavirus isn’t happening, and that it will not change the world.
“Taking account of [the coronavirus pandemic] would absolutely destroy the already made up case for HS2 – committing billions of pounds to a white elephant to protect a handful of construction companies will absolutely come back to bite the Government, because when the dust settles following the current crisis, hundreds if not thousands of well-run firms will go to the wall for lack of funding which Government has squandered on HS2.”
Penny Gaines, chair of Stop HS2, added: “The government has spent the last decade telling us that digital communications won’t reduce to meet in person. But the experience of the last month has shown that all sorts of things that were thought impossible can be done online.
“The business case for HS2 must be affected by the massive changes to working practises in the last month. And yet the government has decided to spend approximately £100 billion on HS2 even though it is increasingly likely to be outdated and unnecessary when it is finished.”
The company formed by the government to manage building the railway, which in its first phase will run from London Euston to Birmingham, can now have its contractors put spades in the ground.
HS2 Ltd has agreed four joint ventures with civil engineers Skanska, Costain and Strabag to form SCS railways, along with Bouygues Sir Robert McAlpine and VolkerWessels to form Align, EKBF made up of Kier, Eiffage Genie BAM Nuttall and Ferrovial Agroman, with BBV formed from Balfour Beatty and Vinci.
Mr Thurston added: “The issuing of Notice to Proceed ensures that our contractors and their supply chains have the confidence that they can commit to building HS2, generating thousands of skilled jobs across the country as we recover from the pandemic.”
