THE argument over whether the HS2 station serving Sheffield should be at Meadowhall – as currently proposed – or close to the city centre on the site of the former Victoria station has been given new impetus by a report from the Volterra consultancy.
Volterra is credited with identifying wider economic impacts that helped strengthen the case for Crossrail in London, and has also suggested that wider economic impacts around Kings Cross/St Pancras and in Kent could mean that HS1 has already generated benefits of over £10 billion – about twice its construction cost.
Now Volterra has indicated that an HS2 station at Sheffield Victoria could provide the Sheffield City Region with a significantly bigger economic boost than the Interchange station currently proposed at Meadowhall, alongside the M1 Motorway and between Sheffield and Rotherham.
In an analysis, undertaken for Sheffield City Council, Volterra says a station at Victoria – which closed to passengers in 1971 – is “the best scenario for the whole city region” and would result in a net benefit of 6,400 new jobs and economic benefits to the South Yorkshire economy of up to £6bn, compared with the Meadowhall scheme.
Volterra also dismisses the time penalty of four minutes for passengers travelling north of Sheffield on HS2 if routed via Victoria, saying work by Parsons Brinckerhoff suggests the extra time has been overstated and, anyway, it would have minimal impact on the overall benefit/cost ratio of the whole HS2 project.
Volterra’s report adds: “Preliminary estimates carried out [for the city council and South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive] suggest that the costs of connecting a station at Meadowhall with the rest of the city region will be significantly higher than at Victoria.”
This, it says, is because a station at Victoria would remove the need for an express service between Meadowhall, Sheffield City Centre and the south west of Sheffield “where the key passenger markets reside.”
The Sheffield City Region encompasses Derbyshire Dales (where Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin is the MP), Chesterfield, North East Derbyshire, Sheffield, Barnsley, Rotherham, Doncaster and Bassetlaw (North Nottinghamshire).
It is also suggested there could be a potential uplift of £530 million in business rate income from business relocation to Sheffield city centre and additional employment. Sheffield is “keen to consider how they may be able to use the uplift generated by the station to assist in part-funding additional costs related to HS2,” according to Volterra.
The cost of the new station at Victoria is put at £340 million, plus £60 million for diversion of the Supertram network to serve it.
Volterra adds: “The objective of HS2 is to connect the Northern Cities in order to encourage economic growth nationally, rather than growth that is just concentrated in London. A station in Victoria will provide the potential for significant economic growth in Sheffield City Centre which would benefit the SCR [city region] as a whole.”
However, says, a station at Meadowhall “threatens to displace economic activity from the centre of Sheffield.”
In support of the case for locating the new station in central Sheffield, Volterra says demand to all destinations served by HS2 would be higher using a station at Victoria – with “the largest relative increases [in journeys] between cities in the North and Midlands, not just London. Connecting northern cities and narrowing the north-south divide is a key objective of HS2.”
Referring to its specialism in identifying wider economic impacts, Volterra states: “These are exactly the sorts of benefits that are currently missed by existing guidance [by the Department for Transport] and sometimes require the use of judgment by policymakers.
“We believe, supported by the job creation estimates, the potential scope for these sorts of transformational impacts would be significantly higher with a Victoria station than one at Meadowhall.”
Following recent public consultation, Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin must determine the final proposed route of HS2 to Leeds and beyond before the end of 2014.