National Audit Office update on scrapping of HS2 phase 2 will cost £100m and take up to three years

[Nicholas Lewis]

NAO has done one of its frequent updates into HS2

https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/u...following-cancellation-of-phase-2-summary.pdf

A couple of takeaways

HS2 Ltd expects to complete remediation works for Phase 2 by summer 2027 at an estimated cost of up to £100 million

then we have

As at the end of March 2024, the HS2 programme had spent £592 million buying land and around 1,000 properties on the Phase 2 route that DfT will no longer need for HS2.

not forgetting Euston

DfT has progressed with developing minimum requirements for the station and options for a new delivery model ahead of ministerial approval. However, it is at an earlier stage in considering how cost and risk will be transferred and what the long-term governance arrangements at Euston will be. DfT expects it may be several years before it could put all these arrangements in place

oh and acknowledges

DfT will not be able to address capacity issues on the West Coast Main Line north of Birmingham through its revised programme scope

what a fiasco but at least it report one positive in the appointment of Mark Wild

 

[snowball]

This report has also been linked in another thread (post #280 here):

Restarting HS2a

Only there's little point in building extra schools as where they are needed due to development the developer funds them and most other places are finding that the number of children is raking so over the next 20 years there'll be a need for fewer and fewer school places. But there are a great...

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