“The response of the Secretary of State for Transport in the other place to the NAO report sounds to me as if he is losing the plot. He attacked the NAO as a “bunch of bean counters”….”
“I hope that the Government will listen carefully to reasoned opposition on HS2 and not descend to the mindless tactic of attacking the messenger rather than addressing the serious issues raised.”
Lord Truscott addresses the House of Lords Grand Committee on HS2, 21st May 2013
The issues with the HS2 phase 1 and 2 are serious for many directly impacted and for all pensioners and tax payers supporting not profitable expenditures. Bunkering down is not the better approach to address the causes of rail and tube overcrowding. The privatisation left this vacuum that politicians are now trying to fill which Sir David Nicholson addressed last week of Governing Departments with an eye on local popularity and unpopularity. The HS2 organisation absorbed those leaving Network Rail and TFL and other projects and rail related companies. The Consultants can plan a good or poor project and the mix has produced a proposition which many people find unacceptable. The Prime Minister has chosen to prioritise expedience above options and their impacts and costs.
Hopefully the Coalition Government can see better transport project which the public would endorse and welcome.