Do we need alternatives to HS2, and what should they be?
Panellists:
Shaun Bailey – Member of the London Assembly and Conservative candidate for the 2020 London mayoral election
Michael Byng – Great British Transport Competition judge, transport infrastructure consultant and quantity surveyor
Kelvin Hopkins - Member of Parliament for Luton North
High-Speed 2 (HS2) is in trouble. With spiralling costs, the business case falling apart and Tory grassroots members lined up against it, HS2 is fighting for its survival under the next Prime Minister.
TPA has long believe this expensive white elephant should be scrapped. But if so, what should replace it? The TPA previously launched the Great British Transport Competition, which took entries from the general public and identified 28 local and national projects which would be a better use of taxpayers' money. However, there are still many other exciting ideas out there. For this panel, our speakers argued for what alternative package they would like to see - or argued that we should stay the course and continue with plans for HS2.
If you missed the discussion you can watch a recording of the live stream in full here.