We’ve been scanning the web to find out what other people have to say about Philip Hammond’s announcement yesterday.
Andrew Gilligan at the Telegraph says that although Primrose Hill is spared, it’s a shame about Belsize Park and a couple of council estates, though. He points out that we’d known about most of the changes since 8th September. However new revisions means that instead of wealthy homeowners, it’s now council tenants who will be affected.
In another article, he writes about High-speed rail madness, repeating many of the things Stop Hs2 have been saying. These include the risk that HS2, according to the report HS2 Ltd themselves produced, will increase greenhouse emissions. They include HS2 Ltd’s plans to reduce services from stations like Coventry, and the “flaky” business case.
Also skeptical is the RAC foundation. They say “The case being made by ministers for HSR shifts almost daily” and that the project is sucking money away from road, bus and other rail projects.
Herald Scotland says Hammond “faced fierce criticism from Nationalists, who claimed Scotland had been “sidelined” under the proposals and pre-election promises from the Conservatives to accelerate development of a route north of Birmingham had been abandoned.” The Herald also questioned Hammond’s statement to the Commons, as he said the journey would be three-and-a-half hours from Glasgow and Edinburgh, whereas HS2 Ltd published information yesterday saying “even an extended network would deliver a journey of three hours 47 minutes.”
The CBI are in favour – if the government commits to the full network – but say key questions remain. They are worried about possible negative effects on freight traffic. They are concerned that other transport corridors, especially those identified by the government as vital to the UK, may suffer from underinvestment. They will need certainty about third party funding if the business community is to support the Hybrid Bill. And based on HS2 Ltd own projections, they question the projects green credentials.
Finally, the Express and Star say that we “need snowploughs, not high-speed trains” costing £30,0000 million.