Council leader calls for urgent meeting following announcement of plans to run rail line from Birmingham to Manchester through Staffordshire
Staffordshire County Council was not consulted about plans for a new rail line between Manchester and Birmingham before they were announced by the Government, the authority’s acting leader has said.
Councillor Martin Murray has written to the Secretary of State for Transport, Heidi Alexander, to request an urgent meeting after details of the line were revealed this month as part of Northern Powerhouse Rail plans to boost connections between cities including Liverpool and Manchester.
The new line between Manchester and Birmingham was described as a “long term objective” to follow multi-billion pound investment in rail services in the north, with the aim of ensuring sufficient future capacity and better connectivity on the West Coast Main Line. But it was stressed it would not be a revival of the controversial HS2 Phase 2 proposal, which was earmarked to pass through Staffordshire before it was scrapped by the previous Conservative government in 2023 amid spiralling costs.
The Government is set to launch a feasibility study and work with local partners on what would be delivered. Land previously purchased between the West Midlands and Crewe would be retained in the meantime.
Speaking at Wednesday’s Staffordshire County Council cabinet meeting, Reform UK member Councillor Murray said there was “scant detail” about the proposed line. He added: “I know that will cause concern for many of our communities who have been blighted by the previous HS2 proposal.
“I have written to Government and the two Mayors who made this policy without even consulting – without even informing – Staffordshire that they plan to go straight through our county again, with not even the decency to involve us with that. I want to make it clear the council will not stand by silently while another major infrastructure project is planned without proper consultation with the people of this county.
“We are urgently seeking clarity from the Government on its intentions.”
Speaking before the meeting, he said: “Our communities have endured years of disruption and destruction due to the failed and mis‑handled HS2 programme, and the absence of detail accompanying the latest announcement leaves residents and businesses facing further uncertainty – potentially for the next decade and beyond. This is unacceptable, and clarity is urgently required.
“Just because the county is not represented by an elected mayor and combined authority does not mean it can be ignored. We will not be the forgotten county.”
Staffordshire County Council’s last leader under the former Conservative administration, Alan White, called on Parliament in 2024 to repeal the Act enabling the second leg of HS2 through the area after the scheme was scrapped. The request was made to remove uncertainty for residents who had been affected.
Speaking in May 2024 he said: “The West Midlands and Manchester Mayors have ambitions to run a railway line through our beautiful county – well they can think again. There is no way we in this chamber are going to tolerate other people outside this county telling us what we should and shouldn’t do with our land, especially when it might mean the rail service for Staffordshire residents gets worse not better.”
Fellow former county councillor Paul Northcott, also speaking in May 2024 when he represented the rural area of Newcastle Borough on the authority, said: “Many residents in my division, in Baldwins Gate and Whitmore, have faced many years of uncertainty. So when this news comes around about the Mayors wanting to reactivate the route, you can understand the distress there now is in the villages that have already been ripped apart by the affects of HS2 and the uncertainty.
“These people have been suffering hell in some situations for years – it’s ended up in my division with some people who have passed away during the stress of it all. This is a blight on our county.”
