A regional daily has launched a bid to save a city from “economic suicide” by ensuring it is part of the proposed high-speed rail network.
The Star, Sheffield, has unveiled its HS2: City Centre or Bust campaign, in an effort to ensure any future high speed railway station is centrally located.
The Star had been due to launch the campaign next year, but in a comment piece yesterday editor James Mitchinson said he had brought it forward because of what he calls the “grave danger” posed by plans to build the station on Sheffield’s outskirts.
The Star has already won the support of former England cricket captain Michael Vaughan, who grew up in the city, following the launch on yesterday’s front page, pictured below.
Sheffield is set to be a destination on the planned extension of the HS2 route, which would see London and Birmingham connected with other northern cities by high speed rail.
However, its link station is set to be built at Meadowhall, four miles away, with the added costs of tunnelling and bridges for a city centre stop put at £680m.
In his editorial, James wrote: “Sheffield is in grave danger of committing economic suicide; I cannot in good conscience allow that to happen.
“That is why I have decided to bring forward to today the launch of The Star’s number one campaign for 2016 – HS2: City Centre or Bust.
“Imagine London with Kings Cross and St Pancras plonked in the middle of Luton. Birmingham New Street in the heart of, er, Telford. Manchester Piccadilly disembarking at Stretford. Absolutely ridiculous, right?
“But that’s exactly the trap that Sheffield is in danger of falling into were we to stand idly by while Westminster decides, on our behalf, to develop this city’s biggest ever economic opportunity four miles away from the heart of the action.”
James continued that he had become “increasingly convinced” a city centre station would be no more costly than an out-of-town solution, having read a variety of opinions on the subject.
He added: “If people are going to flock from across the region to Sheffield’s new retail quarter, they simply have to jump off the train and into cafes, bars and shops, not on to a tram platform.
“Sheffield’s two proud and prestigious professional football clubs want to be able to welcome visiting fans from across the country on to the historic cobbles of their distinguished city home, not the flagstones of a remote inter-connection outpost.
“So here’s what I need business leaders, politicians and Sheffielders to do: back me. Back The Star. Back your city. If we do nothing, the Sheffield your grandchildren will inherit will be a shadow of its potential.
“I will be relentless in pursuing a decision – the right decision – on behalf of the people of Sheffield.”
Vaughan, who captained England in 51 Test matches between 2003 and 2008, shared a link to the editorial from his official Twitter account, posting: “Totally agree… It has to be to save the city.”
In response, James wrote: “Thank you for your support, Michael. It’s imperative we speak as one to the powers that be in order to win this campaign.”
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To be honest the best location is at Meadowhall as we all know about SHEFFIELD city council look at it now most of the shops I used to go with my parents have all been boarded up why ? Wasted money on Don valley stadium?where is it now ? It’s bad enough now getting into SHEFFIELD town centre now never mind building hs2 station that’ll be the final nail in coffin.Meadowhall location is the best location and is an easy access to every part of towns and motorway
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Meadowhall would be a silly location for the station. Rail links only make sense in urban centres. The built environment in the Sheffield city region centres on Sheffield, with Rotherham to the east, Barnsley, north and Chesterfield and Worksop to the south. The major hospitals are in Sheffield, the two Universities are in Sheffield, and crucially Sheffield Station is in Sheffield, which is the major rail transport hub for South Yorkshire.
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Sorry Sheffield Star, you’ve totally missed the point. Having every HS2 service come into the city station is the very last thing you want as doing this will just increase rail congestion in the city. One of the key points of this new line is that it will ease pressure on existing infrastructure and free up capacity, thus allowing more local services which are of much more use to the wider population. Sheffield can be served well by HS2 with a station at Meadowhall in the same way Birmingham will be served by occasional trains calling at Birmingham International near the NEC then branching off into the city centre. High speed trains are not going to be that if they have to stop at every station along the way when there is no need to.
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Thank you Sal. A lot of people won’t really know what you are talking about because this website, and the story, is not about this particular issue, it is about the journalism around it. On that topic this seems a good campaign although I have reservations about young James and his “I will not rest” line. Good luck to him if he, as one of the few remaining JP editors, has time to devote to this issue, but he is making it sound like a personal crusade and I think that is a mistake. The paper is the thing. More “us”, less “I” perhaps?
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Quite apart from the pompous tone of his editorial, which inevitably aims to promote the city he works in, Mr Mitchinson misses at least a couple of salient points:
Firstly, HS2 is about connecting the north and more locally the Sheffield City region to London, not just Sheffield City Centre. Mr Mitchinson ignores the fact that more than half of the South Yorkshire population live in Rotherham, Doncaster and Barnsley, not Sheffield.
He ignores the fact that people travelling north to the region or south to London areas may have interest in these areas, not just Sheffield. Should their journey times be greatly extended to take account of Sheffield parochialism?
He also ignores the fact that people disembarking at Meadowhall will have easier access to massive firms like Forgemasters, Tata and the pioneering Advanced Manufacturing Park than they would from the city centre.
He talks about access for football fans. There will doubtless be plenty of places for a drink and a snack near the Meadowhall station, from which Hillsborough at least is already accessible by tram
The Government has been for some time encouraging local authorities and businesses to think regionally rather than just concentrating on their own patch. This seems to have passed Mr Mitchinson by.
As for things sounding “ridiculous”, I would say likening the distance from Meadowhall – already a functioning, accessible transport hub – to Sheffield to that from Birmingham to Telford more than aptly fits that bill.
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People would no doubt “flock” to Sheffields new Retail Quarter,if parking charges were the same as Meadowhall…and Parkgate Retail World just outside Rotherham..ie free…
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Didn’t Sheffield used to have its own fledgling airport ? How did that work out ? Oh, right…Besides, I’m actually among the majority who think HS2 is a massive, snouts-in-trough con on the public who will be forced to cough of tens of billions so that rich businessmen and politicians don’t have to queue for trains with the riffraff.
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Mr Mitchinson, who seems to specialise in sententious rhetoric (http://www.thestar.co.uk/what-s-on/out-about/editor-s-column-one-million-reasons-to-improve-the-star-1-7230067 ), is deluded if he believes HS2 is about depositing shoppers, coffee drinkers and football fans in Sheffield city centre. This campaign will get a lot of support from the people who violently object to Meadowhall and its giant shopping mall because of the effect it has had on Sheffield city centre, but it won’t impress all those people across the rest of South Yorkshire that the Star used to represent and fight for, and who deserve a share of whatever the benefits of HS2 might be.
The Star used to think a bit bigger than lazy ‘oop north’ stereotyping about historic cobbles. The real danger is that the economic potential of the wider Sheffield City Region is sacrificed on the altar of small-town thinking and short-term self-interest.
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A northern economic powerhouse and its jobs growth will not happen unless the big population centres of West Yorks and East Lancs are brought time-closer to each other by rail. HS2 will not do this, but an ‘HS62′ fast connector between Manchester Victoria and Leeds would bring a step-change in cross-Pennine rail journey times. See:
http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/economic-affairs-committee/the-economic-case-for-hs2/written/15173.html
After these two big-hitters the next biggest population concentration, Sheffield-Meadowhall-Rotherham has Meadowhall in the middle and very accessible to a high speed rail route. Sheffield and Rotherham are not.
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