High Speed Rail proposals put forward by Liverpool City Region will deliver a £10billion boost to the local economy, according to a new report released today by the Linking Liverpool campaign to bring high speed rail to Liverpool.
Along with the £10 billion impact on GVA, the region would benefit from an additional 14,000 new jobs, 10,000 new homes and three-quarters of a million additional visitors.
The report commissioned from independent economics experts Steer Davis Gleave by Merseytravel on behalf of the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, adds to the compelling economic and technical evidence as to why the scheme must go ahead, says Chair of Merseytravel, Councillor Liam Robinson.
“Previous economic evidence for connecting Liverpool directly to the HS2 network showed an £8.3 billion GVA contribution to the regions economy,” said Councillor Robinson.
“Today’s report takes account of our new plans to deliver new,twin-track,high speed rail lines between Liverpool and Manchester and connecting these directly to ‘HS2’ and reveals that for an investment of in the region of £3billion a £10billion return can be achieved.”
The technical and economic case for full ‘high speed’ rail connections for Liverpool has previously been recognised by both Government and Transport for the North. Linking Liverpool campaigners are now pushing for this case to be taken forward in the next stage of reports reports from Transport for the North (TfN), due to be published this month, and for the proposals to be delivered as part of the first phase of TfN’s ‘Northern Powerhouse Rail’.
Mark Basnett, Executive Director, Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) said: “Whilst faster journeys – including 20 minutes between Liverpool and Manchester and 1 hour 13 minutes between Liverpool and London – are welcome, it is the increased capacity on our railways for both freight and passengers that will really drive economic growth, not just for Liverpool City Region but for the whole of the North of England. Our Superport Liverpool is a fundamental part of this.
“We are united between the business community and public sector partners in pushing for this scheme to now be taken forward and deliver this major boost to our economy for generations to come.”