19.02.16
Sheffield businesses call for independent review of HS2 hub options
Business leaders from the Sheffield Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) are calling for an independent economic review into the decision of the city’s HS2 hub location in a letter to the transport secretary and the chancellor.
Speaking at an HS2 summit held yesterday in Sheffield, SCCI executive director, Richard Wright, told the audience: “This shouldn’t be about one set of stakeholders arguing with others – business has got to rise above that.
“I encourage you to add your business names to the appendix of our letter. HS2 will, without doubt, have enormous implications for the future economy of the region.
“We’ve got to get behind the right decision, because, while we’re bickering, the final decision will be made later this year. We can’t afford to end up with the wrong location.”
Other business leaders present at the event backed the chamber’s decision to make the case for an HS2 hub on the site of the old Victoria station near the city centre, rather than at the out-of-town Meadowhall shopping centre.
Paul Houghton, Grant Thornton’s senior partner in Sheffield, argued that “a growing weight of the city region’s business community is keen to press government to review the options and back the solution which will deliver the best regeneration potential and transport connectivity for the region”.
“The next four to five months will be crucial in creating a broad consensus across the entire city region and Grant Thornton is committed to working with all relevant stakeholders in this regard,” he added.
During the event, held at the Memorial Hall, several guest speakers discussed the city’s options in a debate and Q&A session.
One of those present was Henk Bouwman, who is currently working for the Independent Transport Commission consulting on the spatial impact of high-speed rail on UK cities.
But he was speaking from a broader European capacity at the summit, sharing his experience of high-speed rail stations and infrastructure projects in Lille, Bordeaux and Rotterdam.
“In real terms, 2065 is tomorrow,” he said, adding that the HS2 hub will be Sheffield’s “address on a national and European level and it should represent a Metropolitan region”.
The president of the Leeds Chamber of Commerce, Gerald Jennings, shared his experiences with the city’s HS2 station decision, which had the agreement of the LEP, local authorities and the chamber.
But despite this collective inclination towards a hub in the old Victoria station site, the Meadowhall location remains the government’s preferred location, according to the latest DfT documents. Calculations on the reductions in journey times across the HS2 network also take just the Meadowhall site into consideration.
