HS2 downgrade met with mixed reaction in East Midlands

Plans to scrap the eastern leg of HS2 in favour of a link that terminates in the East Midlands have met with a mixed reaction in the region.

The government's new Integrated Rail Plan (IRP) states the Birmingham to Leeds route will now terminate at East Midlands Parkway, in Nottinghamshire.

It also plans to electrify the existing Midlands Mainline and invest about £11bn in rail links in the region.

While some were relieved at the decision, others were disappointed.

Ben Bradley, Conservative MP for Mansfield and the leader of Nottinghamshire County Council, described the proposals to link the East and West Midlands through Leicestershire as "fantastic".

"The biggest thing for us in Nottinghamshire is our economic development and jobs creation," he said.

"Off the back of this, we are linking disadvantaged communities into huge sites for jobs."

However, Lilian Greenwood, Labour MP for Nottingham South, accused the government of selling the region short and branded the axing of the eastern leg a "rail betrayal".

She said: "The [plan] is a huge betrayal of our region and, by spinning this as a good deal, Ben Bradley is simply selling our county and our region short.

"We'll lose out on massively improved connections to Leeds, the North East and Scotland.

"By scrapping the full eastern leg, we won't get the extra capacity needed to create more local rail services and get more freight on rail - and lorries off our roads."

I've been travelling with the Prime Minister this morning. I joined him at Newark for a short hop to Doncaster.

He pored over a rail map and pointed out that HS2 is going to be delivered to the East Midlands despite earlier reports of its demise.

A multi-billion pound investment which will, however, only take the new line to East Midlands Parkway.

He also pledged the long-awaited and long-demanded electrification of the whole Midlands mainline which runs through Leicester and Nottingham to Sheffield.

And while HS2 will halt at the Parkway station near East Midlands Airport, the line will continue to Toton and a new rail transport hub will still be built there connecting local services.

And it may not be the end of the full eastern leg.

That could still happen in the long term.

Alex Norris, Labour MP for Nottingham North, added: "This U-turn will be a blow to our regional and local economies."

Original proposals for the route suggested it would run through communities on the Derbyshire/Nottinghamshire border to a major hub at Toton, connecting the cities of Nottingham and Derby.

Under the new plans, the Midlands Mainline will be electrified as far as Sheffield - something rail campaigners have long called for - and Toton will become a mainline station.

This will connect to the reopened Maid Marian Line - closed during the 1960s Beeching Cuts - to provide passenger connectivity with places like Kirkby-in-Ashfield, Selston and Pinxton.

It comes alongside a commitment to extending the Robin Hood Line out to Edwinstowe and Ollerton.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service suggests this is a project long campaigned for by politicians including the Government's chief whip and Sherwood MP Mark Spencer.

This would connect with the Maid Marian Line in Ashfield to reach the Toton station, and eventually on to HS2 via the light rail connection.

Jason Zadrozny, the independent leader of Ashfield District Council, welcomed the Maid Marian Line news but criticised the overall HS2 plans.

"We've always said reopening the Maid Marian Line to passengers was a no-brainer," he said.

"With regards to HS2 - it's been the worst kept secret in Nottinghamshire for years that HS2 would not stop at Toton.

"[The government] talks about levelling up, yet this looks like it will further exacerbate issues in Nottinghamshire and put us further behind the rest of the UK."

However Midlands Connect - the government-funded regional transport group - said there were positives in the plans.

Chair Sir John Peace said: "Today's announcement gives businesses and local leaders the reassurance they've been waiting for - that HS2 is coming to the East Midlands.

"Although these plans are different in some respects to what we'd expected, there are a lot of... things to be excited about - a new high speed connection between Birmingham and East Midlands Parkway [and] direct links on to HS2 for Derby, Nottingham, and Chesterfield."

He added the delivery of a new station at Toton could start, which would help kickstart regeneration in that area.

"The plans around Toton, the adjacent freeport and the wider Development Corporation could create 84,000 jobs and add billions in value to the regional economy; the developments cover the size of three Olympic Parks," he said.

He added an upgrade of an East Coast Mainline junction at Newark - also mentioned in the plan - would allow better connectivity with Nottingham, Lincoln and other regional hubs.

Residents in the towns and villages affected by the original HS2 scheme, said they were relieved about its axing.

Geoff Cotton, who has lived in Trowell since 1988, would have seen HS2 come past his house.

"Obviously it's pleasing from a selfish point of view, but I do also feel that the way the economy is working at the moment with people working from home more, the need to travel down to London fast isn't as significant as it would have been," he said.

However, he criticised the amount of time the decision had taken.

"People's lives have been totally put on hold for a long time because nobody is saying what is going to happen," he said.

"People haven't been able to move on with their lives because they can't sell their properties."

Jill Sisson, who has lived in Trowell for more than 50 years, would have seen her home demolished.

"I'm quite happy to be staying here," she said.

"To have been living with all this pressure is very hard. I don't think it's been handled very well. One minute you're hearing one thing and the next minute you're hearing something else.

"It leaves you up in the air as to what's going to happen. It's all the uncertainty."

Sim Harris, editor of Rail News, said the proposals for the eastern leg of HS2 had always had problems.

"The idea of running the line to the east of Derby and the west of Nottingham meant neither city got a high speed station," he said.

"Putting it at Toton was an unfortunate compromise. By the time residents had travelled there, they could have been on their way to London on a regular train."

He viewed the location of East Midlands Parkway as a better choice. "It will prove a useful east-west corridor and could mean a faster service between Derby, Nottingham and Birmingham," he said.

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