Decision details

Councillor Davis declared a prejudicial interest as Chair of the Peninsula Rail Force and left the meeting during the consideration thereof.

(a)       To consider the following notice of motion from Councillor Worden

Councillor Worden presented his notice of motion to Council.

It was moved by Councillor Worden and seconded by Councillor Crabb that “It has recently been reported that Allan Cook chairman of the High Speed 2 (HS2) rail project has warned the Department for Transport that its cost could rise by £30bn over the original £56 billion budget. This Council is concerned that this ridiculously expensive system will have little, if any, direct economic, social or infrastructure benefits for the South West and North Devon. While we have dated and frail rail connections the existing rail links between London and the north are much superior to what we have. The recent report by the New Economics Foundation “A Rail Network For Everyone – Probing HS2 And Its Alternatives”, includes the suggestion that the current HS2 funding should be allocated for other regional rail improvements to improve local connectivity across the whole country. This Council, therefore calls on the government to scrap the HS2 scheme and instead make further improvements to the Barnstaple to Exeter line and investigate the feasibility of extending the rail links e.g. to Bideford, Braunton and providing a direct line to Taunton from Barnstaple.”