MP for Amersham and Chesham Dame Cheryl Gillan continues to voice her objections to HS2 as the National Audit Office published their report on the project today stating that it's 'over budget and behind schedule'.
The public spending watchdog NAO went on to say that 'the Department for Transport, HS2 Ltd and wider government have underestimated its complexity and risk' and that there are 'significant challenges to completing the programme and delivering value for taxpayers and passengers remain.'
Dame Cheryl Gillan, who's been MP for Amersham and Chesham for 27 years, has long opposed the project.
She said: "The findings in the NAO report are unsurprising, but how many critical reports into HS2 do we need before we decide to cancel the entire project?
"All the reports into HS2 state it is billions over budget and years behind schedule, and this is ahead of the construction phase, which will no doubt present even more challenges for the project."
Department for Transport’s latest estimate of the cost of HS2 is between £65 billion and £88 billion, however the NAO report states that they can't 'estimate with certainty the final cost'.
Ms Gillan added: "There is no clear picture of the true cost of HS2.
"HS2 Phase Two is at an early stage and not all the land required for Phase One has yet been purchased.
“The trouble with this project is that Ministers and HS2 directors move on and will not be held responsible for the high costs and risks of this project – they think that time will distance them from any failures, and it will be someone else’s problem in the future.
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"But it is the tax payer that will pay the price and billions of pounds will be poured into this white elephant which will clearly be out of date by the time it is completed – now looking like 2040 at the earliest.”
Ms Gillan went on to explain what she believes the money could be better used for, such as funding new hospitals, and that the Government should now have the "courage to put this project out of its misery."
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