All ten Birmingham MPs have written to business secretary Vince Cable calling for the new HS2 engineering training college to be located in Birmingham.
The MPs, eight Labour, one Conservative and one Lib Dem have all signed the letter in which they argue Birmingham is the only logical place for the college as the city is already set to be home to the and .
Birmingham is on a vying for the college along with Derby, Doncaster and Manchester - and final decision from Mr Cable鈥檚 Department of Business, Innovation and Skills, is already over due.
The High Speed Rail College, which is to open in 2017 the same time as construction starts on the Birmingham to London leg of HS2, will train the engineers and construction specialists needed to develop and run HS2 and future infrastructure projects.
The letter states: 鈥淭here can be no doubt about the importance of such a college and the need for it to be open聽 for business very quickly. We are already facing skills shortages in relation to key areas of expertise such as engineering and construction; a challenging by-product of the positive upturn in the economy and growth of businesses such as Jaguar Land Rover.鈥
They say the economy is crying out for skilled specialist engineers to drive further economic growth.
鈥淭he location of the college is critical to the realisation of these benefits and we believe the best place for the hub of skills provision is the heart of the network in Birmingham.
鈥淲e believe that the right location is Birmingham. The city is at the heart of the high speed rail network and the proposed site for the college is 400m from the HS2 terminus, Birmingham Curzon, and in close proximity to the HS2 Design and Construction HQ.
鈥淚t is easily accessible, with over half of the 海角视频 population within three hours travel time, has a concentration of rail employers around it and can draw upon the youngest population in Europe.鈥
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Birmingham鈥檚 college bid has the backing of the City Council and transport authorities, further education colleges and universities and more than 60 leading businesses in the city.
The letter adds: 鈥淲e have the location, leadership and collaboration to make the HS2 College a success. We also bring certainty of delivery with an unfettered site, strong track record and a multi-disciplinary team ready and waiting to start.鈥
The letter was signed on the day that Birmingham hosted a national HS2 Conference at Millennium Point for businesses looking to make the most from the 拢42bn project.
Signing the letter are Richard Burden (Northfield), Liam Byrne (Hodge Hill), Jack Dromey (Erdington), Roger Godsiff (Hall Green), John Hemming (Yardley), Steve McCabe (Selly Oak), Khalid Mahmood (Perry Barr), Shabana Mahmood (Ladywood), Andrew Mitchell (Sutton Coldfield), Gisela Stuart (Edgbaston).
