On Friday 3rd March, Wakefield Council & Yorkshire Against HS2 are co-hosting the HS2 Alternative’s conference. Entry is free and the event runs from 9am to 8pm.
During the course of the day, they will have video contributions from MPs, Ed Miliband MP & Jon Trickett MP.
They’ve now released the agenda:
09.00-10.00
- Public HS2 Information Event & Exhibition
10.00 – 10.30
- HS2 Eastern Route : Rushed, Harmful & Misleading : Jonathan Pile YAHS2
- How HS2 Limited have lied about the Demolitions Meadowhall V M18 Eastern Route
10.30-10.45
- How Sheffield is let down by HS2 : Natalie Bennett Sheffield Green Party
10.45-11.45
- HS2 : High Speed to nowhere : the urgent need for a Strategic Review :Quentin Macdonald
- HS2 have cooked the books – Transport Watch
11.45-12.15
- Why Wakefield opposes HS2 & Wakefield’s view of Transport priorities for West Yorkshire – Cllr Peter Box & Cllr Matthew Morley: Wider Transport Needs Neglected : Mass Transit in Leeds, Regional Airports, Road Infrastructure, diesel pollution
12.15-12.45
- The Economic Case against HS2 plans– Tom Banks Taxpayers Alliance, HSUK
12.45-13.15
- 2B or not 2B – The case against HS2 & the Eastern Leg – Stop HS2 Joe Rukin
BREAK FOR LUNCH & MEDIA INTERVIEWS 13.15-14.00
14.00-15.00
- A Better Alternative for Yorkshire & UK : High Speed UK Proposal : Colin Elliff
15.00-17.00
- Ignored Routes & Ignored Alternatives : Hyperloop, Double-Decker Trains,HS1X, 51M, West of Barnsley, East of Doncaster, Meadowhall and Meadowhall Hybrid – Jonathan Pile
- HS2 the Case for a Review – Jonathan Tyler and Professor Tony May
- South Yorkshire’s HS2 Scandal – Cllr Sean Gibbons
17.00-18.00
- Public HS2 Information Event & Exhibition
18.00-20.00
- The Great Yorkshire HS2 Truth Public Debate – HS2 on trial
Following on from Friday’s conference, there is a later meeting organised by Stop HS2 Erewash. This will be held at Long Eaton West Park Leisure Centre at 7pm on Thursday the 9 th of March.
The Government has the ratio between debt spending on rail and on road. More needed on existing roads and new route improvement of roads. Drivers pay the taxes.
Modest projects on Network Rail routes is the better affordable approach than HS2. Design with Engineers and improve the lives of commuters and the residents of Camden. Don’t. Be dismayed Mrs May there are less costly improvements than £200 billion for HS2.
Budget means also to be thifty. HS2 was not an appealing inward investors choice. Too long too large and mainly unaffordable for people on the breadline. Not a clever idea. To be confounded by tourist and visitor spending over December and January by people taking advantage of low exchange rate demonstrates poor analytical skills by OBR and the Chancellor. Wasting £2 Billion on HS2 to date is extreme reckless when other needs are vivid. Call it a day and recognise railways are significant users of foreign parts and low pound means more pounds lost on a folly with your lolly.
The UK needs to address mega programme, debt building projects to offset the extreme bias into unreasonableness that came from Defacto single narrow and flawed objective of HS2 and similar. The democracy and value of decision commitments are very different and tangled functions.
The UK has got wrong the process of this Hybrid Bill by not separating the scrutiny from the delivery commitments. Flawed process. PM needed to correct this flawed approach to HS2.
Best of luck bringing Yorkshire common sense to expose the state of the Emperor’s clothes. As Wolmar says, we need HS3 not HS2.