In the News

The end of the line for HS2. What next?

Vicki Woolven

26th February 2024

We all know that the infrastructure improvements section of Changing Economic World at GCSE is getting harder to teach with the textbook examples hugely out-of-date or never went ahead. In the last year we have seen the government announce various changes to HS2, before just deciding that the entire section north of Birmingham isn't going to happen at all.

So what happens next?

The government have announced that the £4.7bn that has been freed up from cancelling the high-speed routes will now be given to councils outside big cities in the Midlands and northern England - who will be responsible for allocating funds specific projects in their areas

PM Sunak has also announced that £36bn will be spent on further transport funding in northern areas of England, specifically for new bus and train stations, refurbishing old facilities, roads and mass-transit systems, and building more charging points for electric cars.

What is HS2 was the northern link of HS2 scrapped?

This article was published in October following the announcement of the scrapping of the northern leg of HS2 - but provides a good overview of the current plans, along with the reasons behind the change - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-...

This video explores the controversial train line and those affected by it - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programm...

There are also some good video links below that will help you to update this case study...

Vicki Woolven

Vicki Woolven is Subject Lead for Geography and Key Stage 4 Sociology and History at tutor2u. She is also an experienced senior examiner and content writer. Vicki previously worked as a Head of Geography and Sociology for many years, leading her department to be one of the GA's first Centres of Excellent, and was a local authority Key Practitioner for Humanities.

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