Cheshire East Council leaders write to Prime Minister over HS2 concerns

The leader and deputy leader of Cheshire East Council have written to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak over concerns that the Northern legs of HS2 to Crewe and on to Manchester will be scrapped.

Rumours have circulated the the Prime Minister and Chancellor are considering cancelling the high-speed rail line beyond Birmingham in a bid to curb rising costs of delivering the route, estimated to exceed £100 billion. Cost-cutting measures already moving forward include a downgrade to the Eastern stretch of the route, with trains to Leeds set to use existing track from Derby, while work on building a new terminus at Euston has been delayed so the line will initially open from Old Oak Common, seven miles out of central London.

In response to rising suspicion of further cutbacks to HS2’s route through the North, Cllr Sam Corcoran, Leader of Cheshire East Council, and Cllr Craig Browne, Deputy Leader, have penned an open letter to the Prime Minister, calling for a meeting to discuss plans for HS2 and setting out their support for the high-speed rail link.

In Cheshire East, the arrival of HS2 would raise the importance of Crewe station as a key interchange, allowing passengers to transfer onto local services and onward journeys to other destinations in the North-west, such as Liverpool and stations through to Scotland via the West Coast Mainline – the Crewe hub alone is expected to bring 5,000 jobs to the town and boost the local economy by £750 million. The route then passes through the borough to Manchester Airport and Manchester Piccadilly stations, increasing capacity on the rail network for local trains, as well as providing a future connection with the proposed Northern Powerhouse Rail high-speed route that will provide East-West links to other cities in North of England.

In their open letter, published in full on the Cheshire East Council website, Cllrs Corcoran and Browne write:

“Cheshire East Council has long supported HS2 and its core objectives to connect the largest economic regions across the UK; enable improvements to the rail network; improve places and prosperity across the North; level-up by investing in the development of technical skills; and provide a sustainable long-term transport solution. 

“These are already being seen in and around Birmingham on the back of Phase 1. Certainty of HS2 Phase 2 and NPR is needed so that similar impacts can be unlocked right across the North. 

“The Crewe Hub will be the first HS2 hub station in the North and a key catalyst for growth and levelling. In Crewe alone, HS2 and NPR will unlock nearly 5,000 new jobs, 4,500 new homes and add £750m to the town’s GVA. 

“These benefits are replicated across the North and Midlands, and undoubtedly the cost of losing these benefits to Crewe and the wider North will cost the Government much more than the capital required to complete the project.