PM makes HS2 reversal impossible with land sales
The prime minister has been accused of “salting the earth” by planning to sell land intended for for HS2.
Rishi Sunak has instructed officials to sell properties that were subject to compulsory purchase orders on part of the route.
Mark Harper, the transport secretary, said paying off contracts previously awarded for the cancelled HS2 sections would cost hundreds of millions of pounds.
The prime minister has been accused of “salting the earth” by planning to sell land intended for for HS2.
Rishi Sunak has instructed officials to sell properties that were subject to compulsory purchase orders on part of the route.
Mark Harper, the transport secretary, said paying off contracts previously awarded for the cancelled HS2 sections would cost hundreds of millions of pounds.
But he told BBC Breakfast the cost of pulling out of the agreements would “broadly balance out” with money recovered from selling land and property acquired for the high-speed railway.
Gareth Dennis, a railway engineer and writer, said the decision to sell off the land was motivated by “spite” and was, in effect, “salting the earth” to make it extremely difficult for Labour to restart the project.
Labour has said it will not attempt to resurrect HS2’s phase two if it wins the next general election.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said yesterday he would stick to the prime minister’s plan to use the savings made by scrapping the northern leg of the high-speed rail project to fund rail and other transport improvements across the North.
Speaking to ITV regional news, Starmer argued the PM’s decision to cancel HS2 contracts and release land earmarked for the Birmingham to Manchester leg of the project meant he could not resurrect it.
“They’ve just taken a wrecking ball to this project,” he said. “They’ve blown a massive hole through it and are about to start cancelling the contracts, releasing the land, reconfiguring Euston.”
Sunak has promised a Canary Wharf-style development at Euston that would include thousands of offices and homes. His new plan involves building fewer rail platforms to save costs. But the government has failed to deny HS2 would not be extended to Euston unless enough private investment was secured to pay for the new station. If that is the case it will stop at Old Oak Common.
Starmer said: “I can’t stand here, after they’ve made such a big hole in their plans, and say I will simply reverse it. What I can say is do Northern Powerhouse Rail – yes, we’ll get on with it.”
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