Jim Cunningham
Main Page: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)Department Debates - View all Jim Cunningham's debates with the Department for Transport
(10 years, 8 months ago)
Commons ChamberI did not realise that my hon. Friend originally came from Crewe, which given its connections is a very important railway town, always has been and always will be. I will want to consider his point about the later connections on to the west coast main line in the light of Sir David Higgins’s recommendations.
Given that Coventry will not benefit from high-speed rail, what will the Secretary of State do about the potential investment vacuum in Coventry and similar cities, and what will he do about negative equity?
I very much believe and hope that HS2 will be beneficial to Coventry. The entire west midlands benefits from HS2 and Coventry is certainly part of that wider west midlands conurbation. I want to see greater interconnection between the cities, and we have the time to plan and get that right. In this control period and the next one for Network Rail, we will be able to build on certain proposals that I know Coventry wants. Representatives of Coventry have been to see me and made recommendations about certain line improvements that they want to see.