8 August 2011
St Helens Council should oppose the government’s proposed
£32billion High Speed Rail (HS2) and lobby for decent public transport
investment here in the north-west.
That’s the view of St Helens Green Party after Liverpool City Council, apparently on behalf of St Helens Council and other ‘city region’ partners, declared its support for the scheme.
Under the HS2 proposals, journey times between London and Birmingham will be reduced from the year 2026, and from 2033 between London and Manchester.
But St Helens Green Party, whilst in favour of investment in public transport, considers the proposals "economically and environmentally unsound". The party points out that HS2 will see three times as many people making return journeys from the capital than to it, meaning that more business will be sucked into the south-east.
St Helens Greens want investment in local transport and improved links across the north-west and beyond for the benefit of local people, businesses and communities in the region.
Francis Williams, Vice-chair of St Helens Green Party says:
“In these hard times, can hard-pressed people in St Helens really afford to be forking out a small fortune so that a few businessmen can shave a few minutes off the journey between London and Birmingham? Even if the line does eventually reach Manchester, and that’s a big if, then that’s where north-west businesses and jobs will head for – if they haven’t already gone south.
“The government is going to be asking an average £51million from every parliamentary constituency for this high speed link. That’s over £100million from St Helens taxpayers or the equivalent of £1,500 per household – money that could be spent on improving our public transport here and now, not wasted on vanity projects and vague promises of economic growth in 30 years time.
“If nobody else is going to speak up for St Helens, we will.
“If the government wants to improve our rail system, it should do something to cut journey times and improve infrastructure cross-country. The 200 mile train journey from St Helens Central to London Euston currently takes about 2 hours 50 minutes, yet it can take almost as long to get to Sheffield or Leeds.
“We have been in Merseyside for almost 40 years and yet services in and out of St Helens still lag behind the rest. Passengers want smart, comfortable electric trains, not ancient and rickety hand-me-down diesels. It really is time that this Labour Council did what it is supposed to do and stood up for St Helens.”
St Helens Green Party also points out that HS2 trains will burn 50% more energy mile-for-mile than the Eurostar, produce more than twice the emissions of an intercity train and the track’s proposed 72 metre ‘no-vegetation zone’ means an area the size of Manchester will disappear under concrete.
Francis Williams adds:
“It’s hard to imagine a more environmentally damaging public transport scheme. HS2 will be environmentally damaging in its construction, its operation and its ongoing maintenance. It will be fuel and carbon hungry and also socially regressive, with the hard-up many paying for the fortunate few.”
St Helens Green Party is urging local residents to oppose HS2 through the government’s new e-petition page at http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/353
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