High Speed Rail

Lord Austin of Dudley Excerpts

Monday 28th January 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr McLoughlin]

I am certainly prepared to meet my hon. Friend and discuss alternatives that he may wish to put forward. I hope that he will realise that in deciding on the route through his constituency we have tried to follow an existing major road network. Of course, I will meet him and listen carefully to any representations he has to make.

[Ian Austin (Dudley North) (Lab)]

I strongly support High Speed 2 and very much welcome today’s announcement. The Secretary of State will no doubt have followed the debate about the arrangements between Birmingham International and the city centre. May I suggest that a way of dealing with that controversy and its unpopularity in certain areas would be to take the route along the existing line north of the city and, instead of having the link in the city centre, have it close to the M5/M6 junction in the black country, alongside the M6 at Walsall? There is a huge railway yard there already, and it would have much better links across the black country and Birmingham. It would support exactly what the Secretary of State has said about rebalancing the economy, because it has the largest concentration of manufacturers anywhere in western Europe. It would greatly help with the regeneration of the black country, and it would be easier, cheaper and quicker to build.

[Mr Speaker]

It sounds to me as though the hon. Gentleman wants an Adjournment debate on the subject.