Rotherham Chamber's muted response to HS3 rail plans

PLANS to improve rail links across the Pennines have been described as nothing new by Rotherham business leaders.

Chancellor George Osborne said today that a new HS3 rail link could boost services between Manchester and Leeds.

But Andrew Denniff, chief executive at Barnsley and Rotherham Chamber of Commerce, said: “Businesses have seen many proposals for better links across the North over the years.

“The prospect of a high-speed east-west rail link across the north is a good start if it materialises, but we would like to see more thought given towards greater connectivity to all regions in the north, not just Manchester and Leeds.

“The ambition for a Northern HS3 is positive but we must surely focus on getting HS2 into construction first and agreeing within our own region that the new station should be at Meadowhall.

“We must also continue to look at how we improve on vital road and rail routes across the southern Pennines.

“South Yorkshire’s links to Manchester and beyond are woeful, with only the current Hope Valley rail-link and inadequate cross Pennine roads often at the mercy of bad weather and congestion.

“Businesses like to hear this sort of ambitious thinking, but will be far more impressed if the Government’s existing infrastructure commitments are delivered, sooner rather than later.”