A number of the major district and county councils along the route of the proposed High-Speed Two (HS2) rail line are being investigated by the Audit Commission.
There are reports this morning that a number of the major district and county councils along the route of the proposed High-Speed Two (HS2) rail line are being investigated by the Audit Commission for the misuse of public money, described by Tory MP for Weaver Vale, Graham Evans, as a “disgraceful misuse of public money”.
According to an article in the Bucks Herald in August, more than £250,000 of taxpayers’ money has been spent by councils along the route on a fund to fight HS2.
The councils, including Buckinghamshire County Council and Aylesbury Vale District Council, are reported to all belong to 51m – a group of 15 Tory run councils who are against the project.
This sum, however, may be substantially lower than the actual figures that have been spent, today’s Liverpool Daily Echo reporting that £1 million may have been spent. It has also been suggested that considerably more councils are currently being investigated by the Audit Commission.
If this is true, this could leave these councils in a heap of trouble. Not only are they spending this money in a time of major council cutbacks, but they are spending the money in direct opposition to a project that has full support at the top levels of government.
Tory-run councils in the Home Counties are funnelling money to directly oppose a project that was in the Conservative Party manifesto (p. 23, pdf), and has had continued support from transport secretary Philip Hammond, chancellor George Osborne and the prime minister himself, David Cameron telling Parliament in June:
“I believe that if we are really serious about rebalancing our economy and ensuring that we get growth across the country, and not just in the south-east, the time for high-speed rail has come. That is why it has my strong support.”
There has already been some dissent in the ranks of the Conservative party on this matter, with backbencher Andrea Leadsom (Con, South Northamptonshire) and Welsh secretary Cheryl Gillan (Con, Chesham & Amersham) – whose constituencies lie along the proposed route – leading the charge.
After the uprising from the Home Counties about the proposed changes to planning legislation, Tory-run councils misbehaving over another proposed piece of legislation will not be a further irritant to the government.
32 Responses to “Audit Commission to investigate anti-HS2 Tory councils”
Mayhall Farm
Another attempt to silence the countryside: Audit Commission to investigate anti-HS2 Tory councils http://t.co/4wBFIw6
Duncan Stott
Does anyone know the full list of council being investigated? Thanks.
Twitter @DuncanStott
Juan Voet
RT @neilrfoster: @OtherTPA Never mind those pictures frames – what is the Taxpayers' Alliance take on this!!! >>>> http://t.co/hJxXgzc
PNDavies
Vast sums of public money is being used by the Government to present their pro-HS2 propaganda – as anyone who went to the flashy HS2 roadshows along the route will know, the glossy publicly-funded presentation was totally biased. Therefore there should be no complaints in a democracy that public money is also being spent to give a balanced alternative point of view. The Taxpayers’ Alliance is one of many organisations against HS2 as they believe the whole HS2 project is a total waste of public money. It’s a shame that it has to be done, but in the end the councils are fighting on behalf of their council tax payers for whom this is a huge issue – they are the ones who would suffer a great deal if the construction goes ahead. To make matters worse the councils’ taxpayers would get no benefit whatsoever from 250mph trains thundering through their towns and villages every few minutes without stopping. Therefore it is quite right that councils should be acting to defend their council tax payers. If public money is the issue here, then let’s scrap HS2 altogether and put the £33,000,000,000+ that is set to be spend on HS2 towards libraries, health service, schools and transport projects that will benefit the whole nation rather than a few rich businessmen wanting to spend less time on trains.
Keiran Macintosh
Audit Commission to investigate anti-HS2 Tory councils: http://t.co/yTOyqDR reports @ShamikDas #Yes2HS2 @Biz4HS2