High speed rail services into north Kent have failed to deliver substantial economic benefits and Government should not make the same mistakes with HS2, a Parliamentary committee has said.

“Regional economic growth is one of the objectives of High Speed 2,” said the Public Accounts Committee chair Margaret Hodge MP. “But the Department for Transport has a long way to go to prove that it is being effective in realising benefits from major programmes.

“Lessons from Ebbsfleet show that without proper planning and active intervention, regeneration and the expected substantial economic benefits have not been delivered, despite High Speed 1 construction being completed seven years ago,” she added. “The Government is only now putting in place an urban development corporation at Ebbsfleet to rectify this. We should not repeat these mistakes with HS2.”

The committee also expressed concern that High Speed 2 may not deliver value for money for the taxpayer. It said the overall funding envelope of £50Bn includes a “generous contingency” and there is a worry that this “will simply be used to mask cost overspends”.

In addition the committee urged the Department to set out a long term strategy covering transport infrastructure in the UK for the next 30 years and to use this to inform decisions about investment priorities.

Rail pressure group Greengauge 21’s director Jim Steer pointed out that the private sector should make a leading contribution to development around high speed stations. “It would only add to wider project costs falling to the taxpayer if Government was to force development prematurely rather than leverage private sector investment as is now happening at Ebbsfleet,” he said.

Transport Minister Robert Goodwill MP said: “We are working to ensure that regeneration plans are created with a broad range of stakeholders. That is why we created the HS2 Growth Task Force and we are now building their conclusions into our plans for HS2. Key to this will be the development of local authority HS2 Growth Strategies. We are committed to working with our partners to help deliver these.”

(Photo: Matt Buck)