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Thread: Benefits of HS2 were exaggerated, secret report reveals

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  1. #1
    Mari
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    Thumbs up Benefits of HS2 were exaggerated, secret report reveals

    The Sunday Telegraph has learned that even as they promoted the supposed benefits of the controversial high-speed line, civil servants were sitting on a secret 170-page report which revealed those benefits to be grossly exaggerated.


    One senior official at the DfT explicitly told colleagues that the research "could not be used" because it would spoil the case for HS2, according to Colin Allen, a local resident who has sought the document’s release under the Freedom of Information Act.


    “I was absolutely horrified that they were covering this up,” he said.


    The cornerstone of the new line's business case is a claim that the first phase, from London to Birmingham, will generate benefits worth £23 billion, more than the £17 billion cost of building it.


    The vast majority of the supposed benefits - £20.1 billion – come from claimed increases in productivity on the basis that quicker journeys will leave people with more time to work.


    The then transport secretary, Philip Hammond, said it would “reshape Britain’s economic geography” and “transform Britain’s competitiveness as profoundly as the coming of the railways in the 19th century.”


    The Prime Minister, David Cameron, claimed that the line would have a “transformative” effect on the economy.



    link to rest of story..
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...t-reveals.html



    Last edited by Mari; 13-06-2012 at 06:19 PM.

  2. #2
    Mari
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    Thumbs up

    I think this is very good news and of cause for rejoicing.
    To be honest it was never feasible from the start , given the state of the economy.
    Of course the government won't announce anything or at least not for a while, because it's egg-on-face embarrassment!

    Anyway, rejoice !

  3. #3
    Super Moderator Shizara's Avatar
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    This comes as no surprise.
    Cool

  4. #4
    Super Moderator Shizara's Avatar
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    We might have been a tad premature in our conclusion. Tonight's BBC news says that it is full steam ahead on the proposal..
    Cool

  5. #5
    Administrator Lex's Avatar
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    Even the government's admitted that the benefits weren't quite as big as initially claimed:
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24721214

  6. #6
    rebbonk
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    I really can't see the need for this.

    Someone, somewhere, will make lots of money out of the tax payer should it go ahead...

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