Two news items from the last 24 hours:
Birmingham Mail: 6,000 jobs plan at ex-LDV site in Washwood Heath
Birmingham council leader Sir Albert Bore, and leader shadow local government minister Hilary Benn, visited the Washwood Heath site earlier this week to discuss plans for the site which could create thousands of jobs in manufacturing and industry next year.
HS2 Ltd say they want to use the site for a maintanence depot, but that would only provide a few hundred jobs. Even worse these jobs would not be available until around the time HS2 opens in 2026 or later.
According to the Mail:
Sir Albert says…The plan meets his new administration’s two central aims of job creation and tackling inner city deprivation, with unemployment rates in the area among the highest in the UK.
Mr Benn said that the council is showing how it can make a difference locally: “Birmingham is helping itself and getting on with it,” he said.
“There is obvious potential for 6,000 jobs and the owners are getting on with clearing the site.
There is also a delay to the consultation on compenstaion, which HS2 Ltd said would start in the Spring. It’s now June, and various MPs and others have been checking about it.
David Lidington, MP for Aylesbury, reports on his blog:
“As you may be aware I have received letters from the Secretary of State for Transport which indicated the consultation on compensation for the HS2 scheme would take place in May 2012. However, as of yet no announcement has been made regarding the start of this consultation. Therefore, I rang both the Department for Transport and HS2 Ltd to enquire as to why there had been no announcement and was informed that the consultation had been delayed as the Department for Transport are still finalising the details of what will be consulted on. When I enquired if a new date could be given for the start of the consultation no definitive answer was forthcoming. I will continue to monitor this situation closely.”
Why is there nothing on the HS2 website about these delays and no date for publishing the Y route options
It seems to me that communication is as poor as ever despite our money being spent on many ‘engagement’ staff!!
Let us hope the people of Birmingham realise that the 6,000 jobs now would be better than the promise of a few hundred maybe sometime
maybe never.The way the world is at the moment and could be for some years to come we do not need this train.We need a good transport system to provide local communication for the ordinary people, not a swanky train for the wealthy.
Spoke to HS2 today and safeguarding consultation delayed as well with no new date for starting