NIKKI SINCLAIRE CONTINUES TO FIGHT AS DETRIMENTAL HS2 PROJECT GIVEN GREEN LIGHT BY GOVERNMENT
Issue Date: 10th January 2011
Independent West Midlands MEP Nikki Sinclaire is promising to stand tall with local residents’ backing objections to HS2 against the government’s decision to approve the HS2 project.
Nikki’s call for the continued campaign against this project comes as Transport Secretary Justine Greening gives the green light to the scheme of which the final costs will run into tens of billions of pounds. As well as economic impact, HS2 threatens miles of green belt line and will see disruption for those living along the proposed route.
Nikki will be pushing for the government and the Midlands MPs to look at and the alternative options for improving capacity and journey times between Birmingham and London as the next phase of investment in upgrading the National Rail Network.
The £32 billion Project including the £17 billion+ Birmingham to London High Speed 2 Rail Link is simply not financially viable and proposed would simply increase the costs of travel and fail to live up to the lofty promises espoused by the proponents of the scheme. Nikki points to the failings of HS1 in Kent and the downgrading of local services there to support her argument that this project is a waste of money
Nikki said ‘’The Government must stop wasting taxpayers’ money on a vanity project as the new route destroys homes and villages. It would cut a motorway wide swathe through our countryside to Birmingham International where a huge new car park would be required’’.
“Upgrading the existing Euston to Birmingham International Rail Line would reduce travel times to 50 minutes and allow alternate stopping and flexible local services to be integrated into a faster service that also meets the commuting needs of the intermediate communities while still catering for rail freight.‘’
What isn’t mentioned much is the real concern that HS2 would lead to economic decline in intervening towns and cities including Coventry and Northampton. So in fact the project would almost certainly end up as a vacuum, sucking investment away from the West Midlands.
“There is a real danger of Birmingham becoming a subsidiary of London if the HS2 project goes ahead. The money would be better spent on further regeneration within the Midlands”.
Nikki refutes the argument that the project would bring sustainable jobs to the Midlands. The job creation would be temporary and transitory putting extra strain on other public resources such as health, education and housing. “Real funding needs to be put into skill training for long term job creation”
ENDS
As featured on the BBC website:
http://www.birminghampost.net/news/west-midlands-transport-news/2012/01/10/mixed-reaction-to-approval-of-hs2-high-speed-rail-link-65233-30092812/
