Desire to ‘meet every concern’ over HS2 causes extra costs and delays – adviser A desire to “meet every concern and objection” over HS2 causes delays and extra costs for the high-speed railway project, according to the Government’s independent adviser on infrastructure.
He told the Commons’ Transport Select Committee: “It’s bound to lead, I fear, to at times too much desire to actually meet every concern and objection and requirement for extra facilities within a scheme.
Sir John added: “There is a natural inevitability that when the whole machinery of government is doing something, there is a desire to actually please people rather than a more private sector approach which says ‘Sorry, I have not got any more money, that is all we can afford’.
He said the decision to retain HS2 Ltd – the company responsible for the project being built – within the Department for Transport (DfT) “can lead to too much oversight”, because ministers being involved in too many decisions “is bound to lead to delays”.
Sir John Armitt, chairman of the National Infrastructure Commission, told MPs a “private sector approach” would have been to say “Sorry, I have not got any more money”.
