Doncaster Chambers Comments on HS2 Announcement
Commenting on the Prime Minister’s HS2 high-speed rail link announcement, Dan Fell, CEO at Doncaster Chamber, said:
“Today’s announcement regarding HS2 will, broadly, be welcomed by the business community. HS2 is a key infrastructure project for the UK and its delivery will enhance connectivity across England, encourage inward investment into towns and cities across the UK. Closer to home, we hope that HS2 will generate supply chain opportunities for Doncaster firms and fantastic career opportunities for the young people that will progress through institutions such as Doncaster University Technical College and the National College for Advanced Transport and Infrastructure.
“Despite this, it is disappointing that, yet again, the announcement is more equivocal when it comes to the North than the rest of the UK. If Government is serious about ‘levelling up’, HS2 must be delivered in full, along with other transformative schemes such as Northern Powerhouse Rail and catalytic regional projects such as Railway Station at Doncaster Sheffield Airport. The economy will not benefit from an integrated transport system if Government only gives the North some of the pieces of the jigsaw!
“Today’s announcement provides an opportunity to re-set some of the narrative around HS2. Sadly, some communities in South Yorkshire will be negatively impacted by the construction of HS2 – Government must now deal quickly, compassionately and generously with these issues. Thereafter, the benefits of HS2 need to much better communicated so that people understand the full benefits of HS2 in relation to: taking freight off the roads and therefore positively impacting on the environment, catalysing inward investment and job creation, and generating exciting new career opportunities for future generations – including those who build what is being termed the ‘digital railway’.”
