Huge spend on HS2 cannot be justified (From This Is Local London)

Huge spend on HS2 cannot be justified

10:50am Sunday 29th January 2012 in Colin Baker

I have no personal axe to grind as far as the impact of HS2 on my life is concerned. It will be miles away from my home and therefore I cannot be accused of being a nimby if I say, ‘Why?’ Why do we all need to get to places more and more quickly? Why, when those business men who want to go from London to Birmingham a bit faster can now use their laptops and phones (and they do, curse them!) on the trains, do those phones and laptops have to go to Birmingham in the first place, let alone more quickly? Weren’t the myriad of communication and conferencing opportunities offered by modern technology supposed to reduce the need for so much careering around the country?

Why, at a time when innumerable more important and pressing demands on our cashed strapped nation are jostling for our attention, has this mammoth undertaking been green lighted for funding? Yes, as a lover of all things new and innovative myself, it would be nice to have a new sleek fast train service, but is there anyone outside Whitehall who thinks it is something we need to have before we sort out a heck of a lot of other more pressing demands on our funds in this time of recession?

What would we rather have – schools without crumbling and antiquated buildings or the ability to go from Birmingham to London more quickly? I need hardly add other things we’d like to see higher up the agenda but I will.

Hospitals that are properly staffed, so that nurses can nurse again and patients aren’t left unattended unnecessarily. Local hospitals.

Police forces that aren’t forced to cut their number when the public are crying out for more visible policing.

I know that these are always the arguments trotted out by people with an agenda and that comparisons can be invidious, such as the argument that children matter more than animals, therefore we should support children’s charities not animal ones.

Clearly there is room for both. Yes, the transport infrastructure, like the schools and hospitals, is getting old and tired, but the nod in favour of HS2 is a disproportionately huge financial commitment at a time when every penny should be spent wisely and for the benefit of all.

Getting people from to A to B more quickly doesn’t justify the level of expenditure required for HS2 in the present economic situation.