HS2 to glue the Midlands back together

HS2 will help to put the UK’s regions on the map for visitors and students worldwide. Maria Machancoses, Director of Midlands Connect, told delegates that the new line would immediately improve the geographical accessibility of the UK when it opens: “HS2 will be known globally as how we travel in the UK. HS2 opens up and enhances the accessibility of the UK.”

Speaking at our HS2 Economic Growth Conference she said the new line would also enable greater use to be made of the midlands and west coast main lines, the existing inter-city routes which connect the region with London.

Nick Brown, Chairman of the Urban Growth Company that has been set up to regenerate north Solihull, said the west coast main line will be ‘at least as busy’ when HS2 is fully operating between London and the north of England as it is now.
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And freeing up capacity on the region’s main lines would help cut journey times from Birmingham to areas like Wales and the east midlands, he said: “Once that all comes together, there will be the most fantastic opportunities in this region. Within 20 to 25 minutes you could be in Shropshire or the east midlands.”

He added: “For decades we’ve not had a project or concept that would glue the midlands back together. What HS2 has finally given the midlands is something to make it work across the piece. It enables us to connect those places to where the jobs are and start to get into a positive spiral of jobs and opportunities across the west midlands region.”

And HS2 would help support Jaguar Land Rover’s (JLR) plants in nearby Castle Bromwich and Solihull, Brown said: “The critical national importance of JLR can’t be overstated.”

Mike Lyons, Programme Director at HS2, said the potential benefits of a fast shuttle service between the new Interchange station and Birmingham International Airport are being explored. 

The construction of HS2 would increase the accessibility of Birmingham International Airport to customers travelling from the north of England, he said: “We always talk of London but we have to look north too. Look at the catchment area within one hour of Birmingham International Airport. It’s going to attract people from Leeds and west Yorkshire to Manchester as well as the south, which makes a huge difference.”

Richard Cowell, Assistant Director of Development at Birmingham City Council, agreed that HS2 is important for improving Birmingham’s accessibility to the other big cities of northern England.

He said the prospect is already helping to generate ‘huge confidence and momentum’ in Birmingham: “It’s already making a difference with investors,” he said, pointing to the number of tower cranes on the Birmingham skyline and the businesses looking to relocate into this region. Economic growth is starting, we are creating jobs already.”

HS2 is also a ‘big catalyst’ for attracting international investment to the city, according to Cowell, including from the Middle East and Asia, giving Lasalle Investment’s private rented sector scheme at Exchange Square as an example: We are hugely positive that it will continue to drive the growth of the city.”

Birmingham City Council is particularly keen to spread the growth sparked by the new station into the poorer communities living in the surrounding neighbourhoods, Cowell said: “We have some deprived communities within a stone’s throw of the station, particularly in east Birmingham. Great work is going on to extend the metro into Birmingham and north Solihull to connect those communities.”

He also revealed, responding to a question, that the council is due to announce a joint venture partner at the end of this year for its Smithfield regeneration of a former market, whilst they’re also working with landowners and developers to bring forward a bespoke delivery vehicle for the extension of the enterprise zone in east Birmingham – where a Tax Increment Finance (TIF) mechanism is in place to capture business rates for funding improvements to the area’s infrastructure.

 

PBA, now part of Stantec; Our perspective on the West Midlands Hubs

We think that the West Midlands Hub has the potential to become a crossroads destination at the heart of the UK.  It has so much going for it already – the NEC, with all of its associated activities and facilities, Birmingham International Airport as a gateway to the globe, high technology business like Jaguar Land Rover and surface transport links to almost every region of the country. 

Its aspiration must be to grow as a location that has a significant geographic draw – this isn’t a place that should be seen as a stop on a new high speed rail line, but as a regional hub that looks across national and international borders for its business, cultural and social connections.  For those who chose to base themselves here when HS2 is operating it should be obvious that they have the world at their feet, and they should expect a quality of life that exceeds anything else that is available in the West Midlands.

They may live and work in the Midlands, but they can enjoy cultural activities as easily in London or Birmingham, and will expect to holiday in practically any continent.

Business should expect the same unparalleled opportunity to reach local, regional, national and international markets as easily as each other from the West Midlands Hub. 

This is a lofty ambition – and we believe that it can be realised.  But only if the vision for HS2 and the opportunity it delivers can be configured beyond being a parochial parkway station dotted along a new line at a convenient place near a motorway junction.  Building a new station that sits amidst a sea of car parking may be a mistake.  We are sure it will be well used and successful – but it may well create a gateway to everywhere else for those who drive to the station and travel away, rather than creating economic, social and cultural opportunity in this place.

The risk that HS2 only really provides a place for people to drive to and get on a train to London is great.  What is needed is a station that builds on the reasons that the West Midlands Hub already exists – that enhances it with a new community and new land uses and facilities. 

It could be argued that there is already more than enough car parking here – with the NEC, the airport, the West Coast mainline station car parks and other developments all having car parks of regional significance.  Perhaps the secret to maximising the impact of HS2 at the West Midlands Hub is to get beyond the provision of parking in a way that is dedicated to an individual land use.  Maybe we need to plan for a new community here from the outset, abandon the unsustainable “parkway” idea and set about building a new place for people.

The West Midlands Hub has a series of USP’s that are unparalleled.  We don’t know of anywhere else that will sit between the capital and second city, that has an established local economy that is at the forefront of technology, that has amazing local, regional and national connectivity and which is known to be a cultural and commercial destination of national significance.  What is missing is the community that takes ownership of it and makes it “home”.

HS2 could – indeed it should – be the once in a lifetime catalyst that changes the game for this part of Solihull and East Birmingham.  The key building blocks are already in place, what is needed is a realisation that the vision needs to drive the scheme, the railway cannot be visualised and planned in isolation from the place, and we need to be bolder about the future for the West Midlands Hub and the importance it will have, nationally, in the future.
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