The government has confirmed the route for the second phase of the high-speed rail line HS2, from Crewe to Manchester and the West Midlands to Leeds.
Critics of the £56bn project say it will be a white elephant that ploughs through some of Britain’s most beautiful countryside.
The government says it will boost the economy by billions of pounds.
The plan does not include the location of new station in Sheffield, after the proposed Meadowhall site was scrapped.
HS2 has put forward a city centre option, but that would cut through a new housing estate.
Read on… http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-37981840
Rotherham HS2 safeguarding maps published
A decision on the route of HS2 through South Yorkshire has been delayed but safeguarding maps have been published showing the land and property affected by the proposals announced earlier in the year.
The South Yorkshire HS2 station location was initially chosen as Meadowhall but a new option announced in July proposes that HS2 services between London and Sheffield would take a spur off the high speed line and travel directly to the existing Sheffield Midland station using the existing railway line.
A city centre station solution for Sheffield high speed services would allow the main HS2 line to be built east of the previously proposed route, following the M1 and M18 through Rotherham before heading through the Dearne Valley.
Government looks East of Rotherham for HS2
The Government has given a clear indication that the £55.7 billion HS2 project will reach the North but a decision on a station and route in South Yorkshire has been delayed.
Given a funding envelope of £55.7 billion in 2015 prices, the new North-South high speed train link should reach Birmingham in 2026 and Manchester and Leeds by 2033.
The South Yorkshire HS2 station location was initially chosen as Meadowhall but a new option announced in July proposes that HS2 services between London and Sheffield would take a spur off the high speed line and travel directly to the existing Sheffield Midland station using the existing railway line.
Ministers set to announce HS2 plan
MINISTERS are expected to make a major announcement on the planned high speed rail line for Yorkshire today.
It is thought the Government will confirm the go-ahead for the second phase of the HS2 line which will connect Birmingham to Sheffield and Leeds in the East and to Manchester in the west.
Ministers are expected to confirm the route phase two will take through Yorkshire.
Read on… http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/ministers-set-to-announce-hs2-plan-1-8238105
HS2 South Yorkshire route change threatens new estate
A new housing estate could be bulldozed if changes to the planned high-speed rail route HS2 go ahead.
HS2 has announced a new route through South Yorkshire, scrapping a proposed station in Meadowhall in favour of a stop in Sheffield city centre.
People living on the Shimmer estate in Mexborough have been told that “some or all of their land” may be required if the plans are approved.
Resident Amie Webster told the BBC the “bottom has fallen out of our world”.
The newly proposed route will run east towards the M18 before rejoining the original route south of the M62.
Read on… http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-36716526
Meadowhall, Victoria and Shimmer: Twists and turns of HS2 through South Yorkshire
THE route phase 2 of HS2 will take through South Yorkshire has proved one of the most controversial aspects of whole project and the debate over its impact has encapsulated many of the broader issues involved.
The original plan to build a brand new station to serve Sheffield and its region next to the M1 at the Meadowhall shopping centre caused outrage in the city.
YP Comment: High-speed rail back on track – Plans promise huge benefits
HIGH-speed rail has the potential to transform Yorkshire’s economy, and the Government’s announcement of changes to the route brings those benefits ever closer.
Yorkshire needs this major infrastructure project if our economy is to thrive in the decades ahead. The Yorkshire Post has long championed high-speed rail, and it is heartening to see it take another step towards becoming reality.
There is much to welcome in the detailed plans for the network. Sheffield city centre will be linked to the HS2 route, rather than a station being built at Meadowhall.
See also: The battle over HS2
Rotherham Politics 
So Healy says on his Twitter feed (only 3 hours ago) ‘Really disappointed the government wants to dump HS2 line with station at Meadowhall, and run route to East’. Really? I am surprised he’s even bothered to mention it. Hardly a peep out of him unlike his Wakefield and Doncaster peers.
His absence of support for local protesters has been totally and groaningly, pathetic just as Rotherham Labour Councillors who voted to KEEP the Tory vanity project.
Also doesn’t stop Labour Cllr Sue Ellis getting all the camera shots behind the Bramley ‘STOP HS2’ banner. Wonder what she tells the campaigners? What an epitome of a first class hypocrite.
Healey never gets off his posterior for fear of all the splinters stuck in it. Nothing new there. What an idle, waste of space, ‘ why should I worry as I’m selling up’ wazzuck.
Think we should suggest to Corbyn to let him stay at home and carry on paying him for all the use he is. Oh and Thumper Chump and Barron can also be included.
Absolutely appalling. It is beyond me how they manage to sleep at night. Roll on the next elections…..they should be seriously worried about their gravy trains..
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Barron has been responding on his twitter feed and in the HoC :
https://twitter.com/KevinBarronMP/with_replies
He conveniently forgets that the earlier routeing via a Meadowhall Station would have had an equally disastrous effect on the lives of people in the more westerly parts of his Rother Valley constituency.
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The council do not repredent or reflect the position of labour members and voters who are mostly against the HS2 in this or any other guise.
A train for the privleged few not the many.
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Thomas
Really?
Is that why the Labour councillors voted to KEEP HS2? Labour elected members ARE the council as they make up the majority and control voting on council issues.
Thank you as you are confirming their blatant hypocrisy. Their MPs provide the role modelling to model hypocrisy.
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