There’s no doubt that talk of HS2 divides opinions.
It’s been a constant subject for debate ever since initial plans were first made public and it has again been the subject of high profile debate within the media more recently.
My personal view is that HS2 will be a positive step forward for our future economy in the 海角视频 and, on a regional level, will undoubtedly make a significant contribution to Birmingham’s Big City Plan, which includes the generation of thousands of jobs, increased connectivity and growth.
READ MORE: {}
HS2 sits at the heart of Birmingham’s growth plans, which include becoming a centre of excellence for high-speed rail engineering. Along with this it is expected that up to 50,000 jobs could be created as a result of the project.
This is a figure that cannot be taken lightly, particularly when you consider that last year, for the first time, Birmingham fell into the list of five cities with the highest number of jobless households in the 海角视频.
Along with this it will be great for business. Anything that provides quicker, easier access to our city is going to help our bid to attract more visitors, more investors, more businesses that currently might not see Birmingham as a viable place to go for logistical reasons.
The arguments for HS2 are all very real and very strong. But the case against HS2 cannot be dismissed either.
Turning HS2 into a reality will mean the demolition of hundreds of homes, leaving those families and individuals forced into finding somewhere else to live.
Most Read
It will also mean plummeting house prices for those who will then find themselves located right next to it.
Whenever a project as large as HS2 is planned, there are always going to be a number of sacrifices that unfortunately have to be made.
But at a time when there are so many people not in employment, who are struggling to pay their bills or find homes they can afford, is this really something we want to be enforcing?
Perhaps more importantly [depending on which way you look at it] is the funding side of it.
Current reports confirm an ‘unexpected’ £500m in funding cuts within the NHS that will affect frontline services, despite the government’s pledge to protect these services.
Hospitals were already braced for £1bn in cuts to their services, however with this latest unprecedented figure, the NHS is set for its toughest winter ever, and that’s just in the short term.
There is much fear of patients’ lives being at risk due to shortage of staff available to treat them, beds, funding for treatment and a whole host of other issues that will arise, or indeed be magnified as a result of this.
Don’t miss
So then looking at everything from this perspective, can we really afford to be spending upwards of £50billion on a superfast transportation service that we will not be able to use for another 20 years, in favour of saving the health and indeed lives of hundreds, potentially thousands of our population by using a mere fraction of that total to fund the NHS?
To me, that’s a fundamentally hard pill to swallow.