HS2 plans divide the North’s business leaders

Business leaders in the North are divided when it comes to the value of HS2, the government’s plans for a high speed rail system linking London with Birmingham and cities across Yorkshire and the North West.

The latest Growth Climate Index from investment organisation Business Growth Fund plc found that 50% of leaders think HS2 will be good for business, while 40% disagreed and a further 10% remained undecided.

Despite this, opinions over general transport infrastructure improvements were more united.

The survey showed that 69% of leaders think improvements to road, rail and airport connections would benefit the business community, with 31% believing the money would be better spent on high speed broadband.

BGF’s northern regional director, Andy Gregory, said: “Small and medium-sized businesses are the lifeblood of the economy, bringing much needed jobs and prosperity, but they depend on infrastructure to grow.

“We can see from our latest index that businesses in the North, while united in recognising the importance of investing in physical infrastructure, want this investment to be evenly spread across the UK and bring direct benefits to the companies close to home.”

He continued: “Once again this index paints a positive picture of the growth climate in the North of England, where ambitious companies continue to thrive, but there are also concerns on the horizon.

“Political and economic instability overseas – in Europe, the Middle East and Asia – has leapfrogged accessing the right skills as one of the top issues holding Northern businesses back from growth, suggesting that the challenges of doing business in an interconnected world are increasingly front of mind for these entrepreneurs.”

Around 60% of respondents to the survey, which quizzed BGF’s network of board-level chairmen and directors, said they think the government’s HS2 plans should be reversed, starting with a link between northern cities and Birmingham and then moving further south to London at a later date.

Hospitality regeneration company The Coaching Inn Group is backed by BGF. The finance director of the Lincolnshire-based firm, Edward Walsh, commented: “Investment in superfast broadband and cloud computing has been a good enabler of business.

“But, after years of underinvestment, what we have now in the UK is a legacy transport infrastructure that’s unable to cater to the demands of businesses.”

Edward added: “Improvement in roads and railways across the North will make quicker, easier and more efficient for people to do business.”