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manchester, economic case for hs2, sir richard leese

Lords visit Manchester to take evidence on HS2

25 November 2014

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The House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee are relocating to Manchester for a day of evidence on HS2 from Manchester Town Hall.  Witnesses include Sir Richard Leese, Leader of Manchester City Council.

Witnesses

At 11.00am:

  • Sir Richard Leese, Leader, Manchester City Council
  • Mike Blackburn, Deputy Chairman, North West Business Leadership Team
  • David Thrower, Transport Consultant, North West Business Leadership Team

At 11.50am:

  • Jerry Blackett, CEO, Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce
  • Chris Tunstall, Director, West Midlands Integrated Transport Authority

At 1.30pm:

  • Cllr Jon Collins, Leader, Nottingham City Council representing Eastern High Speed Network Partnership
  • Cllr Leigh Bramall, Cabinet Member for Business, Skills and Development, Sheffield City Council
  • Peter Kennan, Vice Chair, Sheffield Chamber of Commerce

At 2.15pm:

  • Cllr James Lewis, Chair, West Yorkshire Combined Authority Transport Committee
  • Nigel Foster, President, Leeds Chamber of Commerce
  • Ian Williams, Director of Policy and Business Representation, Leeds Chamber of Commerce

The evidence sessions will be held in the Scrutiny Room in Manchester Town Hall. They are open to the public.

As the sessions are not taking place in Parliament it will not be broadcast live on parliamentlive.tv in the usual way. However the sessions will be filmed and available via the Committee website at a later stage.

Possible questions

The first session will cover areas including Manchester City Council’s support for HS2 and why they think the line will help close the north-south productivity gap, whether Manchester Council agrees with the views of the Mayor of Liverpool that improving east-west links should be prioritised over HS2 and what level of disruption HS2 is likely to cause in Manchester as it is built.

Questions to the other witnesses will focus on the possible impact of HS2 on their regions, what other projects need to be developed alongside HS2 to ensure it delivers the expected benefits and whether alternative transport investment would produce better outcomes.

Further information