{"id":74925,"date":"2016-10-11T23:15:02","date_gmt":"2016-10-11T23:15:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=6a1a66d823bb69efa25c9dc960489184"},"modified":"2016-10-11T23:15:02","modified_gmt":"2016-10-11T23:15:02","slug":"news-story-transport-secretary-confirms-government-commitment-to-hs2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=74925","title":{"rendered":"News story: Transport Secretary confirms government commitment to HS2"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"govspeak\">\n<p>Transport Secretary Chris Grayling has set out the urgent need for a new high speed, high capacity railway line to give Britain the infrastructure it needs.<\/p>\n<p>The Transport Secretary has confirmed that the government is committed to pressing ahead with <abbr title=\"High Speed Two\">HS2<\/abbr> to tackle the looming capacity crisis the rail network faces and to help boost jobs and regeneration along the line of the route and across the country. Construction is due to begin on the scheme in the first half of next year.<\/p>\n<p>He has also today (11 October 2016) confirmed plans to make \u00a370 million of government funds available to support local communities and road safety along the route between London and the West Midlands.<\/p>\n<p>Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>We need <abbr title=\"High Speed Two\">HS2<\/abbr> now more than ever.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re facing a rapidly approaching crunch-point. In the last 20 years alone, the number of people travelling on our railways has more than doubled and our rail network is the most intensively used of any in Europe.<\/p>\n<p>We need <abbr title=\"High Speed Two\">HS2<\/abbr> for the capacity it will bring on the routes between London, the West Midlands, Crewe, Leeds and Manchester as well as the space it\u2019ll create elsewhere on our transport network.<\/p>\n<p>We need it for the boost it will give to our regional and national economies.<\/p>\n<p class=\"last-child\">And we need it for the jobs it will create, and for the way it will link our country together.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The \u00a370 million is made of 3 separate funds:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>the <abbr title=\"High Speed Two\">HS2<\/abbr> Community and Environment Fund (<abbr title=\"HS2 Community and Environment Fund\">CEF<\/abbr>)<\/li>\n<li>the Business and Local Economy Fund (<abbr title=\"Business and Local Economy Fund\">BLEF<\/abbr>), which together total \u00a340 million<\/li>\n<li>\u00a330 million road safety fund<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The <abbr title=\"HS2 Community and Environment Fund\">CEF<\/abbr> will help enhance community facilities, improve access to the countryside and conserve the natural environment along the <abbr title=\"High Speed Two\">HS2<\/abbr> Phase One line of route, while the <abbr title=\"Business and Local Economy Fund\">BLEF<\/abbr> will support local economies in areas where businesses may experience disruption from the construction of <abbr title=\"High Speed Two\">HS2<\/abbr>.<\/p>\n<p>The 2 funds will provide \u00a340 million which is set to be allocated at a regional level:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u00a315 million for the Central area (Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Buckinghamshire)<\/li>\n<li>\u00a37.5 million for Greater London<\/li>\n<li>\u00a37.5 million for the West Midlands (Birmingham, Solihull and Coventry)<\/li>\n<li>\u00a310 million unallocated to allow flexibility to fund cross-border or route wide projects<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The allocations were made by Cathy Elliott, the independent chair of the <abbr title=\"HS2 Community and Environment Fund\">CEF<\/abbr> and <abbr title=\"Business and Local Economy Fund\">BLEF<\/abbr> funds, following recommendations from the House of Commons <abbr title=\"High Speed Two\">HS2<\/abbr> hybrid Bill Select Committee.<\/p>\n<p>Cathy Elliott said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Allocation of the funds in this way allows communities to have an indication of the level of funding available while maintaining some flexibility to ensure that the overarching objective of the funds are met.<\/p>\n<p class=\"last-child\">Allocating the funding on a regional level will allow the funding of larger schemes which are likely to deliver a long lasting legacy.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Community groups, charities, non-governmental organisations and business support specialists will be able to bid for grants from the <abbr title=\"HS2 Community and Environment Fund\">CEF<\/abbr> and <abbr title=\"Business and Local Economy Fund\">BLEF<\/abbr> funds, which are expected to be rolled out when construction starts in 2017 and will be awarded until the end of <abbr title=\"High Speed Two\">HS2<\/abbr>\u2019s first year of operation in 2026.<\/p>\n<p>The detailed application guidance for the 2 funds will be published in due course. Following the launch of the funds grant-making rounds are expected to take place every 3 to 6 months.<\/p>\n<p>A separate \u00a330 million road safety fund will be used to make improvements in places along the line of route \u2013 for instance to support traffic calming, safer junctions or better pedestrian crossings. Further details on this fund will be announced in due course.<\/p>\n<p>A decision on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/collections\/hs2-phase-two-from-the-west-midlands-to-leeds-and-manchester\"><abbr title=\"High Speed Two\">HS2<\/abbr> Phase Two route to Manchester and Leeds<\/a> will be taken in the Autumn.<\/p>\n<div class=\"contact \" id=\"contact_1021\">\n<div class=\"content\">\n<h3>\n<abbr title=\"High Speed Two\">HS2<\/abbr> and major projects media enquiries<\/h3>\n<div class=\"vcard contact-inner\">\n<div class=\"email-url-number\">\n<p class=\"tel\">\n              <span class=\"type\">Press enquiries<\/span><br \/>\n              020 7944 3068\n            <\/p>\n<p class=\"tel\">\n              <span class=\"type\">Out of hours<\/span><br \/>\n              020 7944 4292\n            <\/p>\n<p class=\"tel\">\n              <span class=\"type\">Public enquiries<\/span><br \/>\n              0300 330 3000\n            <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chris Grayling also announces \u00a370 million funding to support local communities and road safety along the route between London and the West Midlands.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74925"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=74925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74925\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=74925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=74925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=74925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}