By Rachael Grealish

Cumberland Council has responded to the government’s plans to scrap the northern leg of HS2 saying it is ‘disappointing but sadly not surprising’.

In his closing speech at the Conservative Party conference, on Wednesday, October 4, the Prime Minister confirmed the remaining leg of the long-planned High-Speed Rail 2 project has been scrapped.

HS2, a multibillion-pound high-speed rail route meant to connect Leeds, Birmingham, and Manchester to London, was announced by then-Prime Minister David Cameron in 2013. However, everything planned for beyond Birmingham would no longer continue.

Rishi Sunak has defended the decision with promises to spend the cash savings on other transport schemes across the country instead.

These schemes include:

• The ‘Network North’ to join up northern cities by rail

• A ‘Midlands Rail Hub’ to connect 50 stations

• Keeping the £2 bus fare cap across the country

Now, Cumberland Council Executive Member for Sustainable, Resilient and Connected Places. Cllr Denise Rollo, has called the decision ‘genuinely disappointing’.

She said: “The decision to scrap the northern leg of HS2 is really disappointing but sadly not surprising. This is a huge missed opportunity, not just for Cumbria, but for the entire country.

“Just last week, I met with leaders from various businesses and cross-party political spheres at the Transport for the North (TfN) Board meeting where we unanimously agreed on the importance of completing both HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) to truly revolutionise the North of England.

“Making sure Cumbria was featured on the High Speed Rail map was important to our region’s future growth and investment so the decision to withdraw the northern leg of HS2 without a clear alternative plan is genuinely disappointing.”

However, Cllr Rollo did say the council is ‘eager to work with the government’ with the new proposed schemes.

“The pledge to ‘reinvest every penny saved’ in roads, rail and buses in the North is of course welcome and we were pleased to see a commitment to improving the Cumbrian Coast Line along with cash for pothole repairs and resurfacing schemes as part of this,” she added.

“As a council we are now eager to work with the government to gain a full understanding of how the proposals outlined in the Prime Minister’s speech, could impact on us here in Cumberland.”