HS2: Conservative decision to scrap rail plan criticised by Sheffield councillor

Coun Mike Chaplin asked an urgent question at a meeting of the full council (October 4) following the Prime Minister’s announcement at the Conservative Party Conference that the rest of the high-speed rail link would be abandoned north of Birmingham. Mr Sunak blamed spiralling costs and long delays for the decision.

He also announced spending of the £36 billion saved on alternative rail, road and bus schemes instead in a plan called Network North. Locally, the plan includes:

• Reopening the Don Valley Line between Sheffield and Stocksbridge
• Electrifying and improving rail line speed between Hull and Sheffield, doubling trains between Hull and Sheffield to two per hour and enabling capacity to double
• Upgrade and electrification of the line between Sheffield and Leeds. This will increase fast train journeys 40 minutes from one to three or four an hour
• Building a new mainline station at Rotherham which could receive direct London services for the first time since the 1980s. Capacity will increase by 300%
• Electrification of the Hope Valley line between Sheffield and Manchester. The plan says that this will cut the journey time from 51 to 42 minutes, supporting existing plans to increase fast trains from two to three trains per hour. Capacity will double
• Spending £4 billion on transport upgrades in six northern city regions, specifically mentioning the areas around Sheffield and Doncaster. This would include Sheffield tram extensions and unspecified city bus ‘rapid transit corridors’.

The plan will also extend the £2 bus fare funding to the end of 2024, instead of ending it in October, and bring in more smartcard payment technology.

The Network North plan says: “We will invest £19.8 billion to redraw the transport map across our northern towns, cities and countryside. This includes £3 billion for a plan to connect the great Northern cities: not just Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds and Newcastle, but Sheffield, Hull and Bradford, where we will invest £2 billion to increase capacity, halve journey times and build a brand new station.”

Coun Chaplin asked what benefits the new spending plans would have for Sheffield.

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Coun Ben Miskell, chair of the transport, regeneration and climate policy committee, responded that it’s not surprising Mr Sunak cancelled the northern leg of HS2.

He called Network North “predominantly a collection of transport schemes that are already in progress or that local authorities like ours had been working on for many years”. He pointed to the Don Valley line and welcomed the government “getting on board” with the project, something he said the council has been calling for it to do for many years.

Coun Miskell said that he also looks forward to seeing better links between “our two great cities” of Sheffield and Manchester and pledged to fight for the restoration of the direct rail link between Sheffield and Manchester Airport that has been lost.

He said that the council will continue to work with South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard on improvements to public transport including the franchising of bus services to bring them back under increased public control.