Agenda item

The Council received a presentation from Simon Green, the Executive Director, Place Portfolio, entitled Sheffield’s Economic Narrative and HS2.

Mr Green outlined the global trend towards people choosing to live and work in cities and explained that the Northern Triangle of Greater Manchester, Sheffield City Region and Leeds City Region could be the future economic core of what was referred to as the Northern Powerhouse. Sheffield was the main economic driver of the Sheffield City Region and, within the City Region, 70 thousand more jobs would need to be created to narrow the gap with other parts of the country. In Sheffield, the identified growth sectors (in terms of additional jobs) were: Advanced Manufacturing, Health Care Technologies, Financial, Professional and Business Services and Creative and Digital Industries.

Sheffield City Centre was essential to unlocking economic growth in the City Region and its future development would require integrated infrastructure to enable people to connect to the known key growth areas across the City Region, whether it was by metro, road or rail.   The City Centre needed a transport infrastructure to take cognisance of skills, inward investment and business growth. The current infrastructure provision did not support the City Region’s ambitions for growth and the plans for future rail services also fell short of the City Region’s vision. This included the location of the HS2 (High Speed rail) station as well as proposals for the integration of HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR), Midland Mainline electrification and future services on the Hope Valley line.

Mr Green set out a comparison of the proposed location of the HS2 station and NPR at Meadowhall and the alternative scenario of locating the HS2 and NPR station in Sheffield City Centre, at Victoria. It was the case that only a City centre location could provide comprehensive City region connectivity and strategic national connectivity and would act as a catalyst, reinforcing and accelerating further economic growth.

In conclusion, Simon Green outlined the proposals for transport infrastructure solutions, which included commitment to a HS2 station located in Sheffield City Centre and NPR from Manchester to Leeds and Sheffield city centres.

Members of the Council asked questions and commented on the issues in the presentation and responses were given, as summarised below:-

There was a clear, evidence based rationale for locating the HS2 station in the City Centre, including supporting infrastructure for growth of the economic sectors as outlined in the presentation. How would this also deliver more for the City Region as a whole? This concerned the nature of employment which was concentrated around hubs and the ability to connect and interact with other hubs and bring about an expansion in high value employment, for example in professional and business services and which would not be brought about by locating the HS2 station in Meadowhall.

Centres of large cities had a driving economic effect which could not be replicated. What more could be done to put a compelling case for the location of the HS2 station in Sheffield City Centre? There was a case to be made for Sheffield as the driver of economic growth in the City Region and where growth sectors would be located and growth would occur. Sheffield was also geographically central to a City Region, which included Chesterfield and Derbyshire Dales. If all of the local authorities in the City Region supported a HS2 station located in Sheffield City Centre, it would be most welcome. However, the fact that all of them did not was not sufficiently material to look at Meadowhall as a preferred location. The decision was one which needed to be properly based on business and economic factors.  

Financial, digital and creative employment of high value was likely to occur in the City centre. Was the business community lobbying for a city Centre HS2 station? The success for the Sheffield Retail Quarter would also depend upon the growth of such employment sectors in the City centre. The Private sector had fully backed the position taken by the Council as regards the location of a HS2 station and they had accelerated their own lobbying of Government. The City’s universities and other large employers and the Chamber of Commerce were also supportive. The Sheffield Retail Quarter was needed and was being worked upon. It was not dependent on HS2. However, if the HS2 station was located in the City Centre, it was beneficial for the feasibility of both the Sheffield Retail Quarter and subsequent retail or leisure developments.

A strong case had been made regarding the City centre location of the HS2 station and the Government would make a decision regarding both the station and Transport for the North. Could the main outputs of Transport for the North be outlined? The objective was to link city centres of Manchester, Sheffield and Leeds by rail with journey times of 30 minutes. Options included use of the Hope Valley line, the alignment of rail track with Hope Valley route or a tunnel under the Peak District. The latter was the preferred route as it was dedicated, non-stop and utilised some existing infrastructure.

Reference was made to possible options which included the Woodhead Tunnel and Glossop and it was confirmed that all options were being considered.

The universities were important and both were supportive of the Sheffield position and had been part of the lobbying of Government. It was crucial to the international position of the universities to have a city centre HS2 location.

Leeds had been successful in changing proposals in relation to the location of its HS2 station and there was good evidence in relation to Sheffield of politicians at both local and national level working together regarding the location of the HS2 station. The idea of a HS2 station hub at Victoria would also be beneficial to patronage at Doncaster Airport and the businesses located at the site of the former Sheffield Airport.

As regards the impact of austerity and potential benefits of investment in the City region, it would be better for people in the City Region in relation to employment if the Region was able to generate an additional £7.6 billion GVA(Gross Value Added).

In response to a question concerning rail freight, it was confirmed that freight was part of one of the Transport for the North work streams and it was recognised that connections to the ports was important, concentrating on where there would be added value.

Points were made in relation to the importance of activity in schools and colleges relating to manufacturing industry and initiatives including the University Technical Colleges. Skills were a key part of the proposed devolution deal. Comments were also made in relation to the contrasts in transport connectivity and journey times between cities in the south and north of England.  Transport infrastructure, included the airport to facilitate international business and future transport infrastructure development in the City.

In response, Members were informed that there was disparity in both the transport spend per person and investment in transport infrastructure. The Crossrail project was perhaps an example of the scale and speed of investment in London and the South East. In the City Region, future development included the tram-train project linking Sheffield and Rotherham, which might be a model for future development of tram and train transportation and was potentially faster and less expensive to develop as it utilised existing rail track. It was noted that Leeds had been successful in lobbying Government regarding the location of its HS2 station.

The Council noted the information reported in relation to Sheffield’s economic narrative and HS2 and thanked the Executive Director, Place Portfolio, for his presentation.