HS2 is an 'appalling mess', won't open on time and the cost is soaring
HS2 is an 'appalling mess', won't open on time and the cost is soaring
The previous £66bn budget looks set to be a massive under-estimate
(Image: PA Archive/PA Images )
A UK government minister has said the HS2 project is an appalling mess that will cost vastly more than the £66bn budget planned and won't open on time.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander blamed the Tories for the embarrassing fiasco and said there was no way services could start running by 2023 as previously promised.
She told the Commons today: "It's an appalling mess, but it's one we will sort out. We need to set targets which we can confidently deliver, that the public can trust, and that will take time.
'But rest assured, where there are inefficiencies, we will root them out.'
An interim report by Mark Wild, the chief executive of HS2 Ltd, who was appointed late last year, 'lays bare the shocking mismanagement of the project under previous governments,' according to Ms Alexander.
She told MPs: 'He stated, in no uncertain terms, the overall project with respect of cost, schedule and scope is unsustainable.
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'Based on his advice, I see no route by which trains can be running by 2033 as planned.
'He reveals costs will continue to increase if not taken in hand, further outstripping the budget set by the previous government.
'And he cannot be certain that all cost pressures have yet been identified.' For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation, sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here
Ms Alexander said she is 'drawing a line in the sand, calling time on years of mismanagement, flawed reporting and ineffective oversight'.
However she pledged to finish the route from Birmingham to London and won't reinstate cancelled sections
The HS2 project is the biggest infrastructure spending project in the UK in generations and Wales is missing out. Even with the £445m announced in the recent spending review, our nation's rail network is still not receiving its fair share of rail funding.
(Image: Marc White / WalesOnline )
'This Government will get the job done between Birmingham and London.
'We won't reinstate cancelled sections we can't afford, but we will do the hard but necessary work to rebuild public trust,' said Ms Alexander.
In 2013, HS2 was estimated to cost £37.5 billion (at 2009 prices) for the entire planned network, including the now-scrapped extensions from Birmingham.
In June last year, HS2 Ltd assessed the cost for the line between London and Birmingham would be up to £66 billion.
Ms Alexander said the Government has accepted all the recommendations of a review into the governance and accountability of HS2 Ltd, led by senior infrastructure delivery adviser James Stewart.
She told the Commons: 'Quite simply, there have been too many dark corners for failure to hide in.
'The ministerial taskforce set up to provide oversight of HS2 had inconsistent attendance from key ministers, including the then-transport secretary and the then-chief secretary to the Treasury.
'The Government has re-established the taskforce with full senior attendance, as per the review's recommendations – and new performance programme and shareholder boards will offer much-needed oversight and accountability.'
Ms Alexander said Mike Brown would become chairman of HS2 Ltd. Mr Brown ihelped to oversee the delivery of Crossrail, the transport project which became London's Elizabeth line.
Housing and planning minister Matthew Pennycook said there were "serious problems" with HS2 "in terms of accountability, project overruns, costs".
He told LBC the Planning and Infrastructure Bill includes a number of changes that will "speed up the consenting process for nationally significant infrastructure".
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He said: "Frankly, when it comes to HS2, in some ways we're a bit of a laughing stock around the world in terms of how we handle infrastructure. As a Government, we're absolutely determined to turn that around."
Revelations in November last year that HS2 Ltd spent £100 million on a bat tunnel aimed at mitigating the railway's environmental impact stunned Westminster, and were singled out by Sir Keir Starmer for criticism.
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