HS2

• -reduce north south divide, quicker time to commute

  HS2 links London, Birmingham, Manchester and Sheffield

  estimated 60,000 jobs will be created

  -predicted it will bring between £41.4 and £46.9 billion in economic benefits over 6 decades

  But route will pass historical areas as nature reserves; estimated cost at £32.7 billion and there will be no intermediate stations
• HS2


  A planned high speed rail line which would join London, Birmingham, Manchester, Sheffield and Leeds
• HS2 project


  Reverses all of the government transport policies since 1945, which have all focused on the expansion of the road network
• Road expansion has not kept up with the growth of car ownership and use - the UK now has the most congested roads in Europe
• Decentralisation

  The moving of government houses to other areas to make sure investment follows, promoted by the HS2
• More cars on the road as the UK becomes wealthier; estimated that every family in the UK has a car
• The worst road congestion is in the economic core of London and SE England - extending to Birmingham and Manchester (via the M6) and Leeds (via the M1)
• A report in 2008 estimated that by 2025, road congestion would cost the UK £22 bn per yr in lost time and is currently creating 22k jobs (Dec 21)
• This became like a controversial black hole of money as they pounded mn's into it and nothing happened; legal challenges e,g from NIMBYs in particular put a hold onto it
• Rail travel


  Offers an alternative to cars, plus people can work on their journey using laptops or tablets
• Rail travel is also increasing; some rail routes are already close to capacity
• With a rapid growing population, UK needs new infrastructure just to catch up - let alone plan for future econ growth
• Used to take an hour and a half down to 30-35 mins from Manchester to Leeds due to this
• No longer value for money and it was estimated that due to grid lock and legal issues it will take until 2040s to complete the first leg
• Northerners angry when Sunak cancelled it and divided it out to the rest of North
• Network North


  Rebranded version of HS2 that runs from London to Birmingham
• The gov has allocated £8.3 bn of funding from the scrapped leg of HS2 across the UK
• Gov broke promise as much money went to London to fix potholes and roads and Cornwall rather than the north after Network North Rebranding
• Used money to continue with projects rather than build new ones and promised to finished Manchester tram line which actually finished in 2014
• HS2 in the long term


  Would benefit economics in London as people travel
• It has been criticised for being too focused on large cities like Leeds and Manchester rather than smaller towns and rural areas, and for not doing enough to address longstanding issues such as inequality and poverty.