HS2 review "welcome" but damage done already - Mexborough councillor

A CAMPAIGNING councillor who has battled HS2 from the outset has welcomed a review of the high-speed rail link - but said too much damage had already been done.

Cllr Sean Gibbons (pictured) said 100 families in Mexborough have already been subjected to upheaval and worry by the under-fire transport link, which is now set for fresh scrutiny.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said a “go or no-go” decision on the project to connect London, the Midlands and northern England would be made by the end of the year following a review by ex-HS2 Ltd chairman Douglas Oakervee.

Cllr Gibbons said: “It’s very welcome news for Mexborough but it’s been a long-time coming.

“The pressure has been building to do this review for some time and we have been working with local campaign groups and residents for over three years, so it’s welcome and overdue.

“We hope that at the least our phase of HS2 will be stopped at the end of the year and we feel that the money would be better spent on east-to-west connectivity between the likes of Manchester, Leeds and Hull.

“There’s more than 100 families who have been affected by this.

“We’ve had people who have had valuations for their homes £20,000 apart who live on different sides of a canal.”

Since the initial route through Meadowhall was scrapped, campaigners have fought against the so-called “M18 route”, which would carve through the countryside at Aston and in the Dearne Valley and run rails, viaducts, embankments and cuttings along a line passing Bramley and cleaving through the middle of the new Shimmer estate in Mexborough, with more than 50 homes to be demolished.

It would also affect smaller villages such as Firsby, Hickleton and Harlington.

The review will examine the costs and benefits of HS2 and Mr Shapps refused to rule out scrapping the new line entirely.

Cllr Gibbons said recruiting a former chairman to lead the review was like “someone marking their own homework”.

He said even scrapping HS2 would lead question marks for the future, adding: “We’re years and years away from any lines being built but HS2 own more property in Mexborough than anyone else.

“They own property totalling over £10 million so if they do decide the scrap this white elephant, what will they do with all of their properties?”

Cllr Gibbons said he would continue working with local MPs to push for a full public inquiry.

Rotherham Borough Council is also against the current route and leader Cllr Chris Read joined those welcoming the review.

“If ministers would like to speak to residents in Bramley, Aston, Wales or beyond they will hear loud and clear that the M18 route would only bring years of inconvenience, no local benefits, and at a huge cost,” he said.

“We already know that the Government has downgraded the proposal through South Yorkshire, thinking they can make savings by giving us a second class service.

“Now they have the opportunity to reconsider - either join us up to the network properly by moving the proposal back to Meadowhall, or save us all the trouble and the huge bill by cancelling the phase 2b leg altogether.”

Grant Moremont, of Hooton Roberts and Firsby HS2 Action Group, said: “We have been hoping for a review of the project for a good three or four years now and if it’s undertaken properly, going through all the information as they should, they will realise there’s no appetite for HS2 any more.”