Reports
overnight


say
that
construction
of
the
HS2
station
at
London
Euston,
with
its
7km
link
from
Old
Oak
Common,
will
only
go
ahead
if
private
investment
can
be
found.

The
Prime
Minister
said
on
Wednesday
that
although
he
was
scrapping
Phases
2A
and
2B
from
north
of
Birmingham
to
Crewe
and
Manchester,
the
connection
with
Euston
was
back
on
the
agenda.

The
proposed
station
will
now
have
only
six
platforms
rather
than
the
11
which
were
originally
envisaged
when
HS2
was
to
serve
the
East
Midlands,
South
Yorkshire,
Leeds
and
Manchester
as
well
as
Birmingham.

Mr
Sunak
also
said
he
was
taking
the
revived
Euston
project
away
from
HS2
Ltd,
and
creating
a
Euston
Development
Zone
company
to
manage
the
work.
Construction
at
Euston
was
paused
earlier
this
year
because
the
budget
of
£2.6
billion
had
increased
to
£4.8
billion. 

The
Department
for
Transport
has
not
commented
on
the
claims
of
private
sector
involvement,
beyond
saying
in
the
Network
North
Command
Paper
that
funding
of
Euston
should
be
‘underpinned
by
contributions
from
those
people
and
businesses
its
development
supports’.

Concern
has
also
been
growing
about
the
the
government’s
intention
to
release
safeguarded
land
on
the
route
between
Lichfield
and
Manchester,
which
would
make
restarting
the
scheme
very
difficult.

The
DfT
has
stopped
buying
land
for
Phase
2A
between
Lichfield
and
Crewe,
and
will
start
selling
properties
which
it
had
already
acquired
at
a
cost
of
£423
million.

If
another
government
wanted
to
restart
the
high
speed
scheme
north
of
Birmingham,
it
would
have
to
apply
for
a
new
Transport
&
Works
Act
order,
authorising
a
second
round
of
compulsory
purchases.
These
can
involve
protracted
negotiations
with
property
owners
and
push
completion
of
a
line
to
north
west
England
even
further
into
the
future.