Monthly Archives: January 2014

Some think it is vital to the future of our country, some thing it is a waste of money and resources, and some of us are not quite sure what it is – we just know it’s caused a bit of a fuss!

 Well the official HS2 website describes it as “The High Speed Two rail network will bring the UK’s Victorian railway infrastructure dramatically into the 21st century, releasing space on crowded lines and bringing the whole country closer together.”

rail-sThe website includes the HS2 Ltd Phase Two Consultation, which launched on 17 July 2013 and will run until 31 January 2014. This consultation seeks your views on the proposed high speed rail route, as well as on the sustainability impacts of the proposed line of route.

The website has  a wealth of other information, including facts, figures and dates relating to the development of HS2, and even The Exceptional Hardship Scheme (EHS) which enables those who have an urgent need to sell their property, but can only do so at substantially reduced prices as a direct result of the announcement of the HS2 Phase Two.

On the other side of the fence are  STOP HS2 who believe it HS2 will never deliver on its promises, and cost far more than the official budget suggests. A recent post on their website claims that a study undertaken by the Tax Payers Alliance has shown that a total of £302m was paid out between January 2011 and October 2013.

This includes £104,891 to run the website for 10 months, and aaroundt £9,000,000 to recruitment agencies, despite the fact that by the end of October 2013 HS2 Ltd only employed 557 staff.

 Another group called 51M “is an alliance of councils that has come together to challenge the evidence base about the HS2 project. They are known as “51m” because that represents how much HS2 will cost each and every Parliamentary Constituency…£51million.

So, all in all a rather complicated and controversial project that will almost certainly consume far more money that originally anticipated. But will it be money well spent – only time will tell…