Regional leaders have expressed dismay at widespread speculation the Government may decide to terminate HS2 at East Midlands Parkway, rather than continue to Toton and then on to Leeds.
It comes as the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) is shortly expected to publish its recommendations to the Government into the future of the Eastern leg of the line.
Several leading figures in the East Midlands have independently said they have heard speculation that the NIC report would include a recommendation that the Toton station would be scrapped.
In a statement today (Friday, November 13), the NIC said it was ‘reviewing various rail schemes to illustrate different strategic options for government’.
As recently as July, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the Nottinghamshire leg of HS2 was ‘definitely’ going to happen.
The controversial HS2 line travels from London to Birmingham before splitting into a Y-shape.
The Western leg then goes to Manchester, while the Eastern leg was due to stop in Nottinghamshire at Toton before heading further north.
But last month, the Government told HS2 Ltd to ‘pause’ planning work on the Eastern leg.
Since then, the Government has said the act of law which paves the way for the Western and Eastern legs of HS2 would be ‘split’, so there would be one act of law for each leg.
This further fuelled concern that the Eastern leg could be shelved, or watered down.
The leader of Nottinghamshire County Council, Kay Cutts, said she had heard the ‘rumours’ about the Toton station being scrapped, but that she would ‘fight’ to keep it.
“I will continue to fight for having it (the station) at Toton. This has been signed up to by everybody across the East Midlands.
“We have a major development there, predicated around housing, and also jobs, and infrastructure and green infrastructure.
“It’s disappointing to hear rumours that somehow the Government is going to save money by taking it out of Nottinghamshire.
“Well I have to tell you, over my dead body.
“We’ve got to fight really hard to keep this in our area.
“I honestly believe HS2 is going to be a catalyst for jobs, it’s going to be a catalyst for education, enterprise, training, it’s going to give young people the opportunity that they’ve been denied for such a long time.
“We’ve had no serious investment in Nottinghamshire for about 40 years, and I’m tired of trains stopping at the border and us getting nothing out of it.
“We need this investment in Nottinghamshire, and further north as well.”
Lilian Greenwood is the Labour MP for Nottingham South, and said: “East Midlands Parkway was evaluated as a possible location for a HS2 station back in 2013 and was rejected as unsuitable.
“Since then everyone has been working together to put plans in place to deliver Toton’s HS2 hub, and along with it thousands of new jobs and homes.
“Why the Government would push this option again in spite of the evidence and united political will across the region is completely beyond me.
“The East Midlands has been left on the bottom of the pile so many times before, it must not and cannot happen again.
We need the full HS2 network to be delivered to its current specification. Our region deserves better than a second class railway network and a second class future.
“This Tory Government can’t be allowed to break their promises.
“They must give us the investment needed to rebound from the huge impacts of COVID-19”
A spokesman for the National Infrastructure Commission said: “The commission is reviewing various rail schemes to illustrate different strategic options for government that are deliverable, affordable, and that accelerate benefits to the Midlands and the North.
“We will submit and publish our report in due course to inform the government’s Integrated Rail Plan.”
Andrew Pritchard is the director of policy at East Midlands Councils, and strategic adviser to Midlands Connect, and said: “The East Midlands has suffered from decades of underinvestment, to scale down the Eastern Leg of HS2 now would be hugely damaging to the local economy and demonstrate a lack of ambition from Government at a time when we need it most.
“The HS2 East Midlands hub at Toton isn’t just a railway station, it will be a huge regeneration project on a site larger than London’s Olympic Park.
“As well as a step change in connectivity it will catalyse the building of thousands of new homes, an innovation campus and a new centre for renewable energy generation.
“The 84,000 jobs set to be created in the local area will be so important in speeding our recovery from COVID-19.
“While there is no way of telling yet what the NIC report will recommend, I sincerely hope policymakers follow the evidence and commit to Toton, as well as building HS2’s Eastern Leg in full. We cannot miss this opportunity.”
Chris Hobson is the director of policy and external affairs at East Midlands Chamber, and said: “We haven’t seen the National Infrastructure Commission report and don’t know what it will include, but we’ve said all along that we must build HS2 in full if we’re to realise the full benefits for the East Midlands and indeed the whole country.
“To do anything else would be a huge mistake, critically undermining the entire project, not to mention the huge hole it would blow in Government’s rhetoric around levelling up the economy across the regions.”
In July, during a visit to Beeston, the Prime Minister said: “There’s no doubt at all that for transport connectivity here in the East Midlands it will make a huge difference, and that Eastern Leg is very important.
“We are certainly going to be doing it.”
