Responding to the National Audit Office report ‘High Speed Two: A Progress Update’ Steve Hollis, chair of the West Midlands Combined Authority’s HS2 Growth Strategy, said:
“We welcome today’s report from the National Audit Office (NAO) on HS2, as we gear up for the green light from government to get on and deliver the most important investment in the UK’s infrastructure for a century.
“The report provides forensic analysis on the HS2 programme and makes clear recommendations to the Department for Transport and HS2 Ltd, on how they can ensure public trust, as the programme develops. It highlights how the complexity and risk of the largest infrastructure project in Europe, were underestimated by the Department for Transport (DfT), HS2 Ltd and wider government.
“As we move to the next phase of construction for the new high speed network, it is essential that those in charge take heed of the advice in this report, and that of the forthcoming Oakervee Review, which leaks suggest provides a strong recommendation to the government to proceed with HS2 and advice how to ensure the project delivers exactly what the country needs.
“Truly transformative infrastructure takes decades to deliver but the benefits last centuries. HS2 is much more than a railway, it is an agent of change. HS2 provides the connectivity and the capacity that the county needs to revolutionise the rail network; it creates hundreds of thousands of new jobs providing careers and security for workers today, and future generations; and it underpins the confidence that will lead to more than a trillion pounds of investment the UK.”