“Daft, unnecessary and yet another vanity project” says Roger as in an apparent move to appease critics, including Tory MPs, the Department for Transport has promised to pay people more than the value of their homes before they were blighted by the proposals. A sum of £1.3bn has been set aside to compensate families living along the route of the planned highspeed rail link between London-Birmingham, as ministers showed their determination to press ahead with the HS2 project.
Speaking after the Transport Secretary had announced that he intended to press ahead with the new high-speed rail link between London and Birmingham, Roger Godsiff, who opposes the project and has spoken against it in the House of Commons said: “The decision to press ahead with HS2, which will cut a swath through some of the most beautiful countryside in the Cotswold and will cost £17 billion just on the London to Birmingham section is a prime example of what happens when Government’s lose touch with reality and then embark on ‘vanity projects.”
He continued: “There have been two catastrophic mistakes made with the railway system which was built up by the Victorians. Firstly, Dr. Beeching was appointed by the Conservative Government in the 1960s to ‘rationalise’ the railway system which resulted in branch lines all over the country being closed. Secondly, John Major’s Conservative Government decided to privatise the railways in the early 1990s which has resulted in the tax payer paying vast subsidies, both to the train operating companies and on maintaining and improving the railway infrastructure.

These subsidies are far in excess of the subsidy which was paid to British Rail before its break up and so far as the butchering of the railways by Dr. Beeching was concerned it is commonly acknowledged that Governments of all political shades would give their right arm to have a branch network which existed before Beeching took his axe to it. The third great mistake, again by a Conservative Government, albeit aided by their Lib.Dem Coalition partners is to press ahead with HS2.”
Commenting on the costs of the project Roger said: “HS2 will cut the journey times between London and Birmingham by 20 minutes at a cost of £17 billion. Taking the line further to Manchester and Leeds will increase the cost to £32 billion upwards. The Government has already acknowledged that there is no prospect of the line being constructed for many years and, therefore, to suggest that this is an ‘infrastructure project’ which will generate jobs for British business and workers over the next few years is nonsense.
To commit £17 billion on a project which is not even going to see the first piece of railway line laid for many years to come is ridiculous when the Government could be spending this money on infrastructure projects which are desperately needed such as improvements to existing public transport both in Birmingham, the West Midlands and throughout the country and also, for example, on building social housing which is desperately needed and which could be started almost immediately.”
He concluded: “Ministers in charge of big spending Departments always like to ‘leave a legacy’ but sadly these legacies are often vanity projects, as this one will be, which result in vast amounts of money being spent for little gains to the general public.”
Speech on HS2 on 13th October 2011 by Roger Godsiff MP
Speech by Roger Godsiff MP on HS2 Hansard Debate 13th October 2011

This article appeared in the November edition of Roger's newsletter 'Postcard from Parliament'