SCRAPPING the ‘badly mismanaged’ HS2 scheme will cost billions and make it harder to build in the future, says Warrington North MP Charlotte Nichols.

The Labour politician is calling for the high-speed railway to go ahead but with changes, while Tory Warrington South MP Andy Carter believes serious question marks have been raised over whether it should proceed due to spiralling costs.

But both are resolute in calling for the Golborne spur – between Warrington and Wigan – to be dropped from the project.

Concerns over some Warrington West station stops being cancelled >>

A leaked Government review has stated HS2 could cost up to £106 billion. A total of £8 billion has already been spent on the scheme, which was allocated £56 billion in 2015.

But Ms Nichols believes ‘there can be no Northern Powerhouse Rail without HS2’, saying the capacity gains needed will not be possible from ‘another mixed-use line’.

Warrington Guardian:

MP Charlotte Nichols

She said: “The initial unit costs were so vastly underestimated as the UK has failed to nurture expertise and supply chain capacity for new infrastructure – scrapping HS2 now will cost billions and will only make it harder to build in the future.

“Fundamentally, HS2 is to help solve the capacity crisis on the rail network – we see the impact of this locally with all the bottlenecks that cause huge delays for Warrington commuters and the four trains an hour that were promised at Warrington West not materialising.

“HS2 has been badly mismanaged and needs changes I’ll be pushing for to make it work for people in Warrington, such as the route north of Crewe to ensure it stops at Bank Quay, removal of the Golborne spur and investment in massive improvements to Bank Quay station.

“With these changes, it should go ahead.”

Mr Carter says he is keeping an open mind until he sees the full review but has expressed fears.

Warrington Guardian:

MP Andy Carter

He believes a question over whether it will ‘deliver value’ for people in the north of England must be asked.

The Conservative politician also said Northern Powerhouse Rail is his priority.

“My biggest focus is delivering infrastructure that will make a real difference to people in Warrington and that is where I want to see investment, in the north of England,” added Mr Carter.

“I am really concerned that the project costs are continuing to increase, I haven’t seen the full review because it hasn’t been finalised.

“There are question marks around what is being proposed.

“Primarily, it’s the Golborne spur that I want to see taken out, I don’t think it’s necessary and, actually, it bypasses Warrington but causes a lot of inconvenience for people that live in the area.”