Scaled-back HS2 plans are a waste of public money, damning report warns
SCALED-back plans for HS2 are a waste of public money, a damning report by MPs says.
Building just the London-to-Birmingham leg of the rail project “will not be value for money” — with costs soaring to £66.6billion.
The Public Accounts Committee questioned the Government assessment that completing just Phase One of the plan was better than ditching it completely.
It said: “There are many uncertainties in this assessment and we were left with little assurance over the calculations.”
The report added: “HS2 now offers very poor value for money to the taxpayer — and the department and HS2 Ltd do not yet know what it expects the final benefits to be.
“The department acknowledges that building just Phase One will not be value for money because total costs will significantly outweigh benefits.”
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Committee chair Dame Meg Hillier said HS2 had been “crying out for a steady hand at the tiller from the start”.
The Labour MP added that despite more than a decade of warnings, the country is “locked into the costly completion of a curtailed rump of a project” with “many unanswered questions and risks still attached”.
An attempt to lure private investment into a planned London terminus at Euston was met with scepticism by the MPs.
Concerns were also raised on the knock-on effects of axing the northern leg of HS2.
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But an HS2 spokesman said it is now under new leadership and “implementing changes”.
