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With tunnelling finally underway for the HS2 link between London Euston and Old Oak Common, a business group has called for a “credible plan” for regeneration of the area around the Central London transport artery.
Business LDN has said that whilst the beginning of the tunnelling is “a significant milestone and a timely reminder of HS2’s potential to unlock growth”, there must be a concrete plan for Euston regeneration.
The group’s communications and campaigns director Sanjay Odedra said there must be a “comprehensive reset of the HS2 programme”, including a “clear and credible plan for Euston as the London terminus”.
The connection to Euston has been-long awaited and, at times, deeply uncertain. In 2023, reports emerged that HS2 would not reach Zone 1 without investment from the private sector, before plans were resurrected under Labour the following year.
According to current HS2 plans, two tunnel boring machines (or TBMs), weighing 1,250 tonnes each, will be used to excavate a 4.5 mile tunnel over the next year and a half.
The 190m long digging machines, called Karen and Madeleine, are set to reach as deep as 50m underground.
Camden Council has been calling for more specifics on local regeneration for years, in line with its Euston Area Plan framework.
The local authority has campaigned for the HS2 extension to create 2,500 new homes and 15,000 jobs on site.
Light at the end of the 4.5 mile tunnel for HS2?
The start to tunnelling at least marks a moment of momentum for the perennially troubled infrastructure mega-project, which has been beset by chronic delays and construction setbacks.
Back in June, transport secretary Heidi Alexander appeared in front of the Commons to slam the “litany of failures” that has riddled the project, whilst pushing back delivery another two years to 2033.
And since 2012, the construction costs have ballooned by more than £37bn, with estimates tipping the overall project costs above £100bn.
There have been multiple efforts to kill off sections of the project, with then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak culling plans for a Northern leg at the Conservative party conference in 2023.
Reform leader Nigel Farage – who has led national opinion polls for the best part of a year – has said that he would go further and bin HS2 altogether, telling MPs: “Surely the time has come to scrap the entirety of the project and recognise we’ve got it wrong.”
