Transport Secretary Louise Haigh has announced a series of tough measures aimed at bringing the cost and delivery of HS2 back under control.
The move comes in response to HS2’s Phase One costs soring over the years due to poor project management, inflation and poor performance
from the supply chain, the Transport Secretary confirmed.
According to the Transport Secretary not enough has been done to deliver the budget sufficiently.
To ensure “lessons are learned” the Secretary of State has launched an independent review to safeguard HS2 costs and bring them under control.
The government further reiterated that it will not resurrect Phase 2 of HS2, which was cancelled by the previous administration despite concerns.
Instead, the government has said it will focus on the delivery of HS2 between Birmingham and London at the lowest reasonable cost.
Louise Haigh highlighted that one of her first jobs in office was to "urgently" review the position on HS2 and therefore commenting on the announcement she said:
“It has long been clear that the costs of HS2 have been allowed to spiral out of control, but since becoming Transport Secretary I have seen up close the scale of failure in project delivery – and it’s dire.
“Taxpayers have a right to expect HS2 is delivered efficiently, and I won’t stand for anything less.
“I have promised to work fast and fix things and that’s exactly why I have announced urgent measures to get a grip on HS2’s costs and ensure taxpayers’ money is put to good use.
“It’s high time we make sure lessons are learnt and the mistakes of HS2 are never repeated.
The Major Transport Projects Governance and Assurance Review will be led by senior infrastructure delivery adviser, James Stewart, and will present recommendations back to the government this winter.
The review will examine the supervision of significant transport infrastructure projects ensuring learnings are applied.
It will assess the efficiency of predicting and communicating costs, timelines and advantages, alongside efforts to achieve cost savings.
As part of this effort to get a grip on costs, the management of HS2 Ltd will shortly be taken over by a new Chief Executive, Mark Wild, who has an extensive background in delivering transport projects and will be responsible for resetting the project.
A spokesperson for HS2 Ltd said: “We welcome the Secretary of State's priorities for HS2 Ltd and are committed to working with the new Government to improve delivery."
"HS2 Ltd recognises that there are many lessons to be learned from delivery to date and, under new leadership, are actively implementing the changes within our control to stabilise costs."