Opponents of high speed rail are not “nimbys”, MPs have insisted as they spoke out against plans for a link between London and Birmingham, during a lengthy Commons debate.
And they insisted Transport Secretary Philip Hammond was wrong when he attacked opponents of high speed rail in a recent interview with the claim: “There is not much more to their argument than nimbyism”.
But Ministers continued to make the case for a new line with the publication of research showing towns and cities would enjoy extra train services even if they were not on the high speed route.
Services from Rugby to London would increase from 28 a day to 35 a day while services from Lichfield to London would increase from 15 a day to 27, according to the Department for Transport.
The figures were produced by HS2 Ltd, the company set up by the Government to oversee the creation of a new high speed line, based on an analysis of the capacity that high speed rail would free up on existing rail lines.
Speaking in the House of Commons, MP Christopher Pincher (Con Tamworth) insisted residents were genuinely concerned that high speed rail would be too expensive, would damage the environment and that compensation for affected homeowners would be inadequate.
He said: “My constituents are not nimbys. They say to me if it can be demonstrably proven that this business case stacks up, if there are proper mitigation in place and if there is proper compensation in place then they will, through gritted teeth accept, this proposal.”
Geoffrey Robinson (Lab Coventry North West) insisted the business case for the high speed rail scheme, known as High Speed Two, did not stack up.
He said: “Every taxpayer is going to have to pay well over £1,000 for this, for which there is no justification yet.”
Far from making services better, high speed rail would make them worse for residents of Coventry, he said.
“Some in my constituency are simply going to be bypassed and have a much worse services as a result of this.
“The least the Government can do is to set up a proper inquiry into the business case for High Speed Two.”
But he came under fire from fellow Coventry MP Bob Ainsworth (Lab Coventry North East), one of the few West Midlands MPs to speak in favour of High Speed Two during the debate.
