Toby Perkins MP reacted angrily to the news that long-awaited transport improvements for Chesterfield were now being scrapped by Ministers.

The Department for Transport have announced a new rail plan which sets out proposals for new routes in the North and Midlands – but scraps plans to build the high speed route between Birmingham and Leeds. The eastern leg would have served Chesterfield and there were proposals to build a train maintenance depot at Staveley.

Toby stated “This is a straightforward betrayal of a manifesto commitment by the Conservatives and makes a mockery of their claims to ‘level up’ all parts of our country. This decision really is a disaster for Chesterfield & Staveley and puts businesses in our area at a serious disadvantage.

So many plans for our town and the region had been built around the expectation – the Government promise – that the Eastern leg would be happening. We are going to lose out on the major economic benefits that the route would have brought, and the new plans don’t address the capacity problems on our rail network.

The Staveley depot would have created hundreds of local jobs, but an even bigger impact will be from the potential economic growth and job creation that HS2 would have brought in the long-term but has now been lost.”

The new route would have meant faster journey times, reduced overcrowding and improved connectivity through the creation of an East Midlands Hub which would have become a gateway to the surrounding areas.

As well as helping to reduce carbon emissions, the eastern leg of HS2 was estimated to create 74,000 new jobs and add an extra £4bn a year to the regional economy.

Toby added, “All the talk of the ‘Midlands Engine’, ‘Northern Powerhouse’, and ‘levelling-up, was clearly hot air from an untrustworthy and uncaring Government. They are selling the region short and have betrayed the voters who believed their election promises.”