Council calls on MPs to support railway blight fight

Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council is against reviving plans to connect Birmingham and Manchester with a high-speed rail link following the same route proposed for HS2.

As well as the council making its own arguments, Cllr Dr Andy Fear, its Cabinet member for Strategic Planning, is urging MPs Adam Jogee and Leigh Ingham, whose constituencies cover parts of the borough, to actively oppose the plans.

Cllr Fear writes:

These rumours [of a revived scheme] have come as a hammer blow to many people in Newcastle-under-Lyme who thought that a shadow had been lifted from their lives.
 

The case for HS2 was always weak and Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council has always been clear in its view that any high speed link from Birmingham/Lichfield to the north west of England via Newcastle would not be to the benefit of this borough, its residents, or the environment and that its effects would be such that far from being benefited, our communities would be adversely affected and large areas of countryside in the Borough would be destroyed by the route and its related infrastructure.
 

The plans now being mooted would have the same deleterious effects, bring no benefits and, indeed, cause further harm to those communities impacted by the original plans and associated works.”

The HS2 plan north of Birmingham, known as Phase 2, was scrapped in October 2023.

Now the elected Mayors of Greater Manchester and Birmingham have proposed a ‘Midlands North West Rail Link’ running from Lichfield to near Warrington.

Following the proposed HS2 route, the line would pass through the Madeley and Whitmore areas, where homes and farmland have already been compulsorily purchased by HS2 Ltd.

Speaking about the letter, Cllr Simon Tagg, Leader of Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council, said:

This has been the most appalling time for those residents and communities affected by HS2 and it is simply not on that, after a decade of suffering, their lives can be put on hold again by a proposal to rehash the first plan.

If we do not fight in their support now our communities could easily face another decade of blight and uncertainty, so we will do all we can do help them – and I expect our MPs to be on board in this struggle.”