Will the HS2 Euston terminus ever get built? 

REPORTS that the Euston section of the HS2 railway is once again under review amount to yet “more unacceptable uncertainty” that has dogged the multi-billion pound project since its conception, the leader of the council said today (Friday).

Cllr Georgia Gould said HS2 Ltd – the company in charge of the £108billion railway – must not be allowed to abandon its commitments to Camden after years of chaos and major disruption to thousands of people’s lives.

National newspapers reported that Department for Transport chiefs are – once again – looking at delaying or scrapping HS2 railway’s Euston terminus.

This time the speculation is based on increased costs faced by the construction industry.

Cllr Gould said HS2 had already left a “deep scar” on the public, adding: “These reports represent more unacceptable uncertainty to a project which has already knocked down 200 homes in Camden and razed sections of our borough to the ground.”

Despite the HS2 railway being officially approved by MPs in 2016 – and hundreds of millions of pounds spent on compulsory purchasing homes and businesses and demolishing land around the station – no detailed plans have ever been produced or submitted to the Town Hall for the proposed station or connecting railway lines.

Boris Johnson ordered a review after he became Prime Minister that led to a slight downsizing of the Euston terminus scheme and claims that it would be completed by 2031.

The decision to redraw the scheme led to £100million of spend on consultants and architects for the previous plans put to waste.

There have been several u-turns over the years regarding Hs2 in Euston and today’s furore appears to be the latest in a long succession of political briefings to journalists about what is by far the most expensive section of the overall scheme.

The New Journal coverage of 2018 claims HS2 could be scrapped 

The latest rethink is being driven by subcontractors who have warned HS2 Limited they cannot fulfil contracts due to rising costs of concrete, steel and labour without going bust, The Sun newspaper reported today.

It has also reported the DfT warning “tough decisions” on the railway project were to be made in the coming weeks.

But Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, responding to story, told the BBC he did not “see any conceivable circumstances” why it would “not end up at Euston”.

He had said in a speech setting out his long-term vision for economic growth that HS2 was a “specific priority for me in the Autumn statement”.

The New Journal has for over a decade reported on calls for the railway to Birmingham to terminate at Old Oak Common in west London, rather than the costly tunnelling plan.

We have also reported how many sceptics of the project believe the primary focus of the scheme has always been the redevelopment of the area around Euston Station.

The compulsory purchased land, now owned by the government but already earmarked for regeneration in a bonanza for private developers, is valued at around £7billion.

A New Journal comment column from 2018

The company Lendlease is already contracted as the “masterplanner” for the area around Euston station.

Since 2016, when MPs first gave the railway the green-light, hundreds of tenants have been forced out of homes compulsory purchased along with thriving businesses like the Bree Louise pub.

Open spaces on estates have been jammed full of replacement homes while thousands of graves have been exhumed from St James’s Gardens.

The exhumation of St James’ Gardens

A large area around Regent’s Park estate and Euston has been transformed into a desert with endless stream of construction lorries and road closures.

Earlier this year, HS2 reneged on a commitment to remove rubble from the new station’s construction by rail – meaning 25,000 more lorries will thunder into Camden each year.

Tenants and leaseholders in blocks left in appalling conditions within a few metres of the main construction site – one of the larges in Europe – have had a long battle for compensation.

A majority of homes have failed to be fitted with promised noise insulation and air ventilation systems.

Residents routinely complain about poor quality replacement windows

Maria Fidelis Secondary School in North Gower Street had to be abandoned and replaced with a new building in Somers Town while the National Temperance Hospital was smashed down.

Dozens of trees have been axed leading to environmental campaigners’ historic tunnel occupation of HS2 land Euston Square Gardens in 2020.

Larch Maxey down the tunnel under Euston Square Gardens in 2020

Cllr Gould said today:  “Our residents will fear that they will have to endure years of disruption for absolutely no benefit at the end of it. They must see the new homes, green spaces and opportunities they were promised – HS2 must not walk away and abandon our communities.”

There have been several architects’ projections of how the station could look like 

The Department for Transport said: “The government remains committed to delivering HS2 to Manchester, as confirmed in the autumn statement.“As well as supporting tens of thousands of jobs, the project will connect regions across the UK, improve capacity on our railways and provide a greener option of travel.”