WARRINGTON North MP Helen Jones has again hit out over the controversial HS2 high speed railway.
She attended a debate on the West Midlands to Crewe proposals for the line and called for “a proper, integrated hub at Crewe.
This, she said, would make the proposed spur line through Warrington “absolutely redundant.”
After the debate, Ms Jones said: “I have always maintained that the Hoo Green to Bamfurlong spur is the whitest of white elephants.
“Sadly, if it goes ahead it will devastate two villages in Warrington and inflict serious environmental damage.
“The case for the spur has been seriously undermined with rising costs and crucially the provision of a transport hub at Crewe which would make it redundant.
“A proper integrated hub at Crewe would also enable many more towns in the North West to benefit from HS2.”
If the spur line is built, the villages of Culcheth and Hollins Green would be badly effected, and there would also be an impact on Lymm.”
MP hits out over “white elephant” HS2 rail line
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The whole of HS2 is an exorbitant and unnecessary cost, particularly in times of austerity, for one particular section of our national rail network, when the all the rest of it across the country is crying out now for upgrades and improvements and has been for decades. That includes those lines that Beeching axed and which would now be economically and ecologically of benefit to large areas of the country. The supposed HS2 business case and every other benefit it will purportedly bring has been shown to be flawed.
So is Helen for HS2 or against HS2? I’m unsure! Because on the one hand she claims that it will destroy local villages so therefore it must be a bad idea but on the other hand she states that “A proper integrated hub at Crewe would also enable many more towns in the North West to benefit from HS2.” So is she is only against HS2 because the route will affect Culcheth, co-incidentally where she lives? But in reality she supports HS2 and would welcome it, providing the projected route does not affect the value of her own Warrington property?
Also – Helen states that other North West towns would benefit from HS2 so she must be a fan of it at least privately? Can she (or any of her team posting on here) specify which towns she is referring too? That way we could better understand as to how they would benefit as Helen has suggested? And then look at how their MP’s feel about HS2 and whether their views mirror Helen’s?
My understanding is that Helen Jones (and indeed the former Conservative Warrington South MP), were opposed to the HS2 Spur that would run through Culcheth and skirt Lymm, rather than the whole concept of HS2.
I live in hope that this wasteful project with an out of control budget will not come to fruition. Today’s young people…who will end up paying, dearly, for HS2 if it goes ahead, want and need high tech modes of instant communication, we need to be looking at exceptional broadband speeds, fantastic online conferencing to enable people to work without having to travel. HS2 is the dreams of old people not the aspirations of the young and whose country and world it will become….when us older ones are dead and gone!
Haven’t seen any statistics on the age brackets for or against HS2 Paul. But this old person and many of my similarly ancient friends and associates have never considered HS2 was a sound proposition for the infrastructure improvements this country needs. In truth most people I know young, middle aged and old have no time for it. I agree wholeheartedly with most of what you have written save the age distribution. It is a pure and simple political vanity project. When the arch gadget/tech hungry orientated politician Tarzan Hesletine was asked why he plumped for it, given the flaws in all its supposed benefits, he chose the old faithful “patriotic reasons.”