Land sales freeze on HS2 Phase 2 confirmed as Government evaluates alternative

Transport Minister, Lord Hendy has indicated that land purchased between Lichfield, Staffordshire and High Legh in Cheshire on the now scrapped Phase 2a route will be ringfenced until the Government has considered alternative options.

Lord Hendy was responding to a question by Conservative peer Lord Moylan about the proposed Midlands-North West Rail Link (MNWL) in the House of Lords yesterday (October 23).

Hendy said: "We recognise the concerns about connectivity between Birmingham, Manchester and the north of England.

"We will consider advice and engage with the mayors and the detail of the report.

"And of course we will give ourselves time to do that before any precipitant action is taken on the land concerned."

The confirmation from the transport minister that land would not be sold, follows the recent report led by Andy Burnham and Richard Parker, mayors of Greater Manchester and the West Midlands and a private consortium which proposed a new rail link between Staffordshire and Cheshire which would connect to the proposed east-west Northern Powerhouse Rail.

The report recommended that land sales be frozen, and the government held the land until a solution on the route’s future could be found.

The Government has yet to indicate its plans for the previously scrapped HS2 Phase 2a. The Department of Transport was forced to dispel rumours that funding for MNWL would feature in the upcoming budget on October 30 as it launched a review into the spiralling costs of the current HS2 project, a situation that Transport Secretary, Louise Haigh described as “dire”.