Following today's news of the scrapping of HS2 north of Birmingham, the Conservative Councillors on Stafford Borough Council have issued a press release to press for monies to continue to be spent to deliver the Handsacre link, so that Stafford can still benefit from classic compatible trains and also to help upgrade the station to an integrated multi modal transport hub, whilst also recognising that the impact from the building of HS2 in Stafford Borough on many of our communities would have been significant.
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We welcome the news today from the Prime Minister of the scrapping of the HS2 railway line north of Birmingham and the re-investment of £36bn into local transport infrastructure that will benefit our communities locally in Stafford Borough, as well as across the wider West Midlands and the North.
The impact that building the train line would have had on all in our communities locally would have been significant over a prolonged period, which now can be minimised through using the existing available rail capacity on the West Coast mainline.
We look forward to the Government's reassurance of the commitment to the Handsacre link as part of Phase One and also that Stafford, as an economic centre, will continue with the plan to benefit from classic compatible trains. An upgrade of the West Coast mainline and to Stafford station to a multi modal integrated transport hub should be a priority so that it can continue to attract businesses and retail to the County Town and make best use of the previous rail infrastructure and other investments that have been made over the past ten years within the Borough.
Stafford Borough Conservative Councillors
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