We'll have to take your word for it! That pesky Telegraph paywall strikes again...
I'm far too good to you, really I am!
"
HS2▸ has been accused of ?ignoring? up to ?600 million of savings by shunning proposals to revive a disused railway line for a key infrastructure facility, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal.
Officials from the scheme are said to have attempted to ?bury? a cost-effective alternative to a maintenance site on the Midlands to Crewe route that could be built three years faster.
An independent report on comparable costs between the location favoured by the project and the one offered to it externally found the latter would make ?93 million in direct savings.
It is believed the new site would also eliminate the need for two further facilities earmarked for construction at a later stage in the project, expected to cost around ?500 million.
HS2, however, has insisted on pushing ahead with its plan to build the facility at the original location in Stone, insisting it is the most cost effective option near Stoke-on-Trent, prompting a furious three-year row with campaigners.
Alternative site
The rival proposal was first devised by a group representing several Staffordshire parish councils when they grew concerned the Stone site would be ?overwhelmed? by the number of lorries needed daily to deliver bulk materials.
They alighted on a location around eight miles away, known as Aldersey?s Rough, which their assessment concluded was ?a far superior engineering, environmental and economic solution?.
Details of the alternative plan were sent to Sir David Higgins, then HS2?s chairman, in 2017, with the group even saying the organisation could claim the idea as its own.
?We expected HS2 to snatch our hands off with our idea because it was so much better than theirs, but they had already made their mind up before we even got a chance to speak to them,? Trevor Parkin, an environment consultant who helped draw up the plan, told the Telegraph.
?Because of the timescales that they were working to, they weren?t prepared to listen really, which took us by surprise at the time.?
HS2 plans to use the Stone infrastructure facility, known as a railhead, to import materials to build the route to Crewe, before it becomes a permanent maintenance base for the next phase between Crewe and Manchester.
Levelling up
The Aldersey?s Rough site would instead focus on a former railway line not used since 1998, which could be reconnected to Newcastle-under-Lyme - the most populous town in England without a rail station.
?There was potential for it to have a massive positive legacy," Mr Parkin said.
?The whole argument for HS2 is that it is ?levelling up the country? and providing connectivity, but they were just not interested.?
He says that after being knocked back repeatedly, Mr Parkin, who this month gave evidence in opposition to the Stone site to a House of Lords committee, asked a respected infrastructure consultant to carry out a cost analysis of the two sites.
Michael Byng, who has previously made headlines for estimating that the total cost of HS2 could reach ?106.4 billion, concluded that Aldersey?s Rough was a more practical option and would be ?93 million cheaper.
Mr Byng told the Telegraph: ?Apart from the money difference, you can also do a breakback for what it means for logistics. I think Aldersey?s Rough is a far better site.?
Campaigners also claim Aldersey?s Rough would be able to carry out the functions of a railhead and maintenance site due to be built near the village of Ashley, Staffordshire, for the phase of HS2 linking Crewe to Manchester.
Mr Parkin said: ?Aldersey?s Rough would remove any need to build either facility at Ashley, and this would conservatively save HS2 and more importantly the
UK▸ Government and taxpayer another ?500 million, on top of the ?93 million of direct savings.?
Call for an investigation
Dame Cheryl Gillan, the
MP▸ for Chesham and Amersham and a long-standing critic of HS2, suggested the Government should investigate the reports of the savings.
She said: ?HS2 makes a habit of not listening to local people and their community relations have been consistently poor, no matter where in the country the construction is taking place.
?If this a saving that they have decided not to make, then really it should be investigated by the Department of Transport.?
HS2 Ltd said the Aldersey?s Rough proposals had already been rejected by a House of Commons Select Committee in 2018.
A spokesman added: ?A construction railhead at Stone and its subsequent conversion into a HS2 infrastructure maintenance base for the operational railway offers the best strategic and most cost-effective solution for the building and operation of HS2.?
