Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-05-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the potential economic effect of the High Speed 2 project on Coventry; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Robert Goodwill

Much of the research on the impacts of HS2 on specific areas of the UK so far has focussed on the HS2 named cities such as Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham and London. However, to build an understanding of the potential for HS2 to contribute to balanced economic growth in the UK, The Economic Case for HS2, published in 2013, apportioned the estimated social benefits of the project to different regions. The West Midlands was estimated to receive 15% of the benefit of the full ‘Y’ network in 2036, valued at £303m (in 2011 prices). Coventry, located close to the planned HS2 Birmingham Interchange station, can be expected to benefit from faster journey times through the high speed network as well as released capacity on the classic network.

Early research published in the HS2 Regional Economic Impacts report in 2013 attempted to estimate the gross GVA effects of HS2 on the West Midlands economy in 2037 and produced an illustrative estimate of between £1.5bn and £3.1bn of additional output per annum (in 2013 prices). We continue to refine the methodology of how we assess regional economic impacts and build evidence on the contribution which HS2 could make to creating sustainable and balanced economic growth.