Taxpayer ‘risks footing £6bn bill for HS2 Euston overhaul'

Yahoo

12-04-2025

British taxpayers risk footing a multibillion-pound bill to turn London Euston station into the new High Speed 2 (HS2) terminus, the site's former owner has said.
A blueprint for the £6bn makeover will not deliver the returns needed to attract the type of private investment promised by Rachel Reeves, according to property tycoon Michael Gross, who owned multiple sites around Euston that were acquired by HS2.
'It's certain to fail,' he said. 'There is no chance whatsoever of raising that money privately. It's propaganda, not fact, and the taxpayer will be left to pick up the pieces.'
Mr Gross, who was part of a group that submitted plans for Euston's redevelopment, said current proposals that envisage a mix of shops, offices, housing and green space fail to exploit the site's true potential.
Only a retail development bigger than Heathrow's Terminal 5 or Westfield London, Europe's largest shopping centre, would stand a chance of raising the required funds, he claimed.
'The station is hugely expensive and the tunnelling is hugely expensive. So you've got to create the highest commercial value you possibly can,' he said.
'You have to build a city within a city. You'll have a captive audience of 100m people a year who you can funnel through shops, an entertainment centre, cinemas and restaurants.'
The Euston plan was stalled two years ago when the previous Conservative government claimed HS2 would end in west London unless private investors rode to the rescue with cash to regenerate the area.
Rather than scrapping the plan, Ms Reeves committed to taking the high-speed rail link the five miles into the centre of the capital and redeveloping the station.
Ms Reeves said in her October Budget that while cash would be provided to tunnel to Euston, the regeneration of the station would be substantively funded by private finance.
The Department for Transport (DfT) later said Euston would be paid for via private financing and receipts from commercial development, topped up by taxpayer and local government funds.
However, the Commons public accounts committee said in February that it was 'sceptical that the private sector will provide this level of contribution'.
Mr Gross said ministers were mistaken in regarding the redevelopment of nearby Kings Cross as a template for Euston, with the former having been a brownfield site of disused railway yards.
The Euston project, by contrast, will see the station itself double in size, its roof replaced with a concrete deck that must support new buildings while existing platforms remain in use.
He said the Hudson Yards complex in New York was the only practical blueprint, having been built above tracks from Penn Station. It features 100 shops and restaurants and 16 skyscrapers – one 200ft taller than The Shard – on a site half the size of Euston.
Andrea Ruckstuhl, of Lendlease, the master developer for Euston, said the firm is working with partners to deliver a planning application for the station and its surroundings.
He said: 'That will include new homes, businesses and community spaces; while also generating significant value for the UK economy.'
The DfT spokesman said the Government was 'working at pace to set out the delivery arrangements and funding for the station' and will provide an update in due course.
Mr Gross said that even if Labour were to rethink its approach, changes in the office and retail sectors since Covid meant redeveloping Euston for HS2 would not be viable.
He urged the Government to admit defeat, halt HS2 in west London and focus on upgrading Euston as a hub for trains on the existing West Coast line to northern England and Scotland.
He said: 'Euston is falling apart. We need to rebuild it as a conventional railway, but they have no plan, no money and no idea how to deal with it.'
Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.