Jerry Blackett: We will suffer without HS2

Dec 10 2010 By Jerry Blackett

Paul Kehoe summed it up at a debate with the transport minister Philip Hammond about the benefits or otherwise of a High Speed Rail link between London and Birmingham.

The Birmingham Airport chief said: “Without this, the country will grind to a halt. There will be winners and losers, and that’s very sad.”

Of course, Paul is right. The facts are that people will undoubtedly suffer what is called blight (in other words the value of their homes or businesses will be significantly reduced by a High Speed Railway on or near their property).

They are the losers. At the debate at the NEC, they included Kenilworth Golf Club, who were concerned about the level of compensation to be awarded to businesses that may need to relocate. The minister assured them that “a compensation scheme that goes beyond current compensation schemes” would be introduced.

And he added: “We will come forward with offers of compensation to people who own property the value of which is significantly reduced. But benefits have to be stacked against the impact on local environments.”

The winners will be those rail passengers who at the moment have to stand on overcrowded trains. Without the development of a high speed rail link between London and Birmingham and further north, the country will indeed grind to a halt.

The minister explained that the existing West Coast Main Line would switch to carrying freight while HS2 would be for the use of passengers.

When you examine these facts it’s difficult to understand where the country would go without HS2. There were similar objections in the burgeoning days of rail transport in the 1830s when doomsayers predicted that livestock would die as a result of trains chugging through the countryside. And, of course, people could not survive speeds of up to 15mph.

Similar fears were expressed when the motorway network was launched with the Preston By-pass in the Sixties. Now motorway travel is a victim of its own success as one of the most popular forms of transport.

But the argument for HS2 is compelling. It will be environmentally friendly as well as meeting transport needs in 30 years time.

Without it, Britain will stop. With it, the UK – and Birmingham - will undergo a transformational change.

* Jerry Blackett is chief executive of Birmingham Chamber of Commerce Group.