HS2 GOVERNMENT ARROGANCE
Tuesday, March 8 2011
MEP Mike Nattrass has accused the Government of bullying the people of the West Midlands after ministers admitted taxpayers and businesses in the region will have to help pay towards the multi-billion pound cost of the high speed rail rip-off.
The UKIP MEP, who is a member of the EU’s Transport & Tourism Committee, says the Government is showing blatant arrogance after announcing that it ‘expects’ local authorities, airport operators and businesses close to the proposed HS2 link to contribute to the cost of the line.
Earlier this month, West Midlands MEP Mike Nattrass joined protesters against HS2 in Warwickshire to light a beacon to mark the start of the official consultation and demonstrate opposition to the HS2 scheme.
Formal public consultation on the proposed line between Birmingham and London is expected to last until the end of July.
The government’s consultation document, entitled ‘High Speed Rail: Investing in Britain’s Future’, states: “Significant numbers of individuals and organisations would stand to benefit from the construction of new high speed rail lines. This could include airport operators, businesses close to high speed rail stations and local authorities.
“The Government expects that such parties would therefore, make a contribution to the cost of those links.”
Commenting on the Government statements, Mr Nattrass said: "The Government says that the West Midlands should pay for its own demise, pay to increase commuting to London raising costs in this area, pay to change Birmingham into a 4th London Airport, increasing flights and noise for the sake of easier access to London by train, whilst at the same time saying that this is not about the EU's TEN-T proposals but is a UK proposal.
"Well, it is a bad proposal and does nothing to regenerate Birmingham, Coventry and The Black Country.
"When I started my business in West Midlands the Government was stopping regeneration of Birmingham by refusing Office Development Certificates and Industrial Development Certificates and pointing new business to places like East Kilbride or heaven knows where else.
"The basic evolution of West Midlands business was stopped and started to die, now here we have London wanting us to buy 33 billion pounds worth of nails for our coffin," he added.