News > UK > Home News David Higgins: ‘HS2 is not just a fast train line, it’s about spreading London’s wealth’ The Chris Blackhurst Interview: The chairman of HS2 wants to speed up its arrival in the North and says the public will get on board * Chris Blackhurst @c_blackhurst -- * David Higgins, at the HS2 offices in Victoria, has a track record on delivering expensive, controversial projects ( Charlie Forgham-Bailey ) -- happen anyway and we ought to make a decent fist of them. That’s where I am with HS2. During my lifetime, rail links between London and the North have improved immeasurably. I believe the £50bn cost could be better spent on upgrading cross-country services and the motorways and trunk roads. However, it now appears that such arguments are lost: the high-speed service is going to get built, and therefore, it’s imperative the railway is as good as it can be. -- (BUTTON) Download now With these thoughts in mind, I am seeing Sir David Higgins, HS2’s chairman. There is another link with London 2012: Higgins was chief executive of the Olympic Delivery Authority. Created with Sketch. For and Against HS2 Show all 5 -- (BUTTON) Created with Sketch. For and Against HS2 1/5 Against: Ed Balls Ed Balls has questioned whether HS2 is ‘the best way to spend £50bn’. Peter Mandelson expressed fear that the project could be an ‘expensive mistake' -- The Wildlife Trusts’ Stephen Trotter, director of England, explains: ‘Currently, people and nature stand to lose if HS2 goes ahead, which is why our opposition to the proposed route for HS2 remains'. But, if it is to be built, The Wildlife Trusts propose a new, greener plan for the HS2 to create ‘around 15,000 hectares of new, interlinked wild places established along the entire length of the route, which people can walk, cycle through and enjoy'. -- Leader of Birmingham City Council, Sir Albert Bore, says: ‘We have to build HS2. Doing nothing is not an option’ 5/5 For: Pete Waterman Pete Waterman, Waterman Railway Heritage Trust, says: ‘HS2 will be built by young people, building their future’ Getty -- 1/5 Against: Ed Balls Ed Balls has questioned whether HS2 is ‘the best way to spend £50bn’. Peter Mandelson expressed fear that the project could be an ‘expensive mistake' -- The Wildlife Trusts’ Stephen Trotter, director of England, explains: ‘Currently, people and nature stand to lose if HS2 goes ahead, which is why our opposition to the proposed route for HS2 remains'. But, if it is to be built, The Wildlife Trusts propose a new, greener plan for the HS2 to create ‘around 15,000 hectares of new, interlinked wild places established along the entire length of the route, which people can walk, cycle through and enjoy'. -- Leader of Birmingham City Council, Sir Albert Bore, says: ‘We have to build HS2. Doing nothing is not an option’ 5/5 For: Pete Waterman Pete Waterman, Waterman Railway Heritage Trust, says: ‘HS2 will be built by young people, building their future’ Getty -- He nods at me, smiling. “Journalists used to write that nobody would go to Stratford. I know exactly when the view altered, it was when the stanchions went up for the stadium. The challenge we have here at HS2 is to achieve that change.” Most people will swing behind HS2, he feels, “once they start to see engineering beginning, spades going into the ground – that’s the enabling point”. -- Read more * Church to oppose HS2 * Scrap HS2, and solve the North-South divide while you’re at it * HS2 won't boost the North’s economy Is he happy with the progress? He shakes his head. “I’m never happy, -- everything we do, we must be accountable – it was very humbling.” This notion that HS2 is much more than a track for fast trains is stressed repeatedly by Higgins. There will be new stations that will act as hubs for other services, by rail and road. Those stations will -- One but Stage Two, which will take in better connections and cross-country services across the North. He’d like to bring forward this second phase, so the benefits of HS2 can be felt north of Birmingham sooner. At present, trains will begin running from London to Birmingham in 2026 but are not due to head further north until 2033. A landmark will be reached this week, when the British design industry’s great and good assemble in London to discuss the HS2 brief. Again, the steer will be looking at how the project will knit together with everything around it. “HS2 is an opportunity to focus on design excellence,” says Higgins. “It’s not just about the architecture of stations, but the land in between. We must think about everything we do -- centre in Kent, which he oversaw before moving to London 2012. With HS2, Higgins maintains he will ensure: “We hire the most creative, ambitious people. Not the most expensive, but people who want to change the world. We’re here to change lives.” -- of Canary Wharf.” That’s what he hopes for HS2, that it’s a social engineering triumph as well as a civil engineering one. As for us, he’d like us to stop carping and start believing. -- and Bluewater shopping centre in Kent; later became chief of London 2012 Olympic Delivery Authority; chief executive of Network Rail; executive chairman of High Speed 2. Salary: £591,000 as full-time chairman of HS2 Family: married, with two children