Michael Fabricant – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michael Fabricant on 2014-03-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of an extension to Crewe of the first phase of High Speed 2 on the (a) route through Lichfield constituency and (b) need for an additional railway line north of the City of Lichfield connecting the end of Phase one to the West Coast mainline.

Robert Goodwill

No decision has yet been made on Phase Two as we are still considering the responses to the public consultation. Sir David Higgins’s proposals would see the Government’s preferred route to Crewe, which formed part of the recent Phase Two consultation, constructed earlier. Therefore, it is not anticipated that Sir David’s proposal alone would affect the route through the Lichfield constituency. However, the route of Phase Two through the Lichfield constituency is clearly subject to the outcomes of the recent public consultation.

The powers for Phase Two, including the section of line to Crewe, are proposed to be sought via a second hybrid Bill. As such the connection to the West Coast Main Line as part of the Phase One Bill is still required to allow Phase One to operate effectively and to enable destinations such as Stafford to benefit from high speed services.