MP Casts Doubt on UK Broadband Benefits of HS2 Rail Project

The MP for Chesham and Amersham, Sarah Green, has challenged the UK Government to make progress on commitments made to local authorities along the Phase One rail route for High Speed 2 (HS2), which among other things included the promise to construct a new “broadband superhighway” to help expand faster internet access.

The HS2 project is massively expensive – its current estimated cost is between £72bn and £98bn (at 2019 prices) – and along the way more than a few people have suggested that such money could have been better spent on improving gigabit broadband and road connectivity, among other things. But it did also pledge to bring some broadband benefits of its own.

HS2 Route Map

The HS2 plan originally included the construction of a new “broadband superhighway” along the route (here), where high-capacity fibre optic cables would be laid. But a 2016 report from the High Speed Rail Committee (HSRC) noted that the legislation only made “passive provision for installation of broadband infrastructure on the route, but not actual installation such as ducting and cabling” (here). The same committee found that several areas along the route, which would not stand to gain directly from the railway itself, lacked good broadband.

At around the same time in 2016 a number of local authorities – including Lee Parish Council (Sarah Green’s constituency) – received an assurance about broadband provision from HS2 Ltd, which pledged to keep them “updated on the outcome of discussions with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and [Building Digital UK] in relation to support for broadband provision for communities along the Phase One route.”

Sarah Green MP told the House of Commons:

“Apart from a few holding letters, The Lee Parish Council has not heard anything for three years. Will the Minister provide details about those discussions to reassure my constituents that they are indeed taking place?”

In response, Julia Lopez, the UK Minister for Digital Infrastructure, encouraged Sarah Green to write to her about the issue: “I am keen that any hon. Member should feel that they can write to me about issues in their area. We are trying to get a much better system up and running so that we can get such cases answered. I encourage her to write to me as I am very happy to look into her concerns.”

Sadly, it remains unclear just what kind of broadband connectivity benefits consumers can expect to receive from HS2, or indeed whether the new cables will reach every part of that route, or only certain areas. Naturally, Sarah Green and others were expecting “real, meaningful engagement, not insubstantial letters followed by radio silence.” But it probably doesn’t help that HS2 has been beset by significant delays.

As we’ve said before, HS2 is now so far behind the original plan that, by the time it has completed, the underlying problem may have already been resolved, at least for many of the areas along its route. Phase One will run from London to the West Midlands, where it will re-join the existing West Coast Mainline. Services will travel onwards to places like Manchester, Glasgow, Liverpool, Preston and Wigan.

However, Phase One will not now open until between 2029 and 2033. By comparison, the government’s Project Gigabit programme, assuming no significant delays, aims to have “nationwide” coverage of gigabit broadband (1000Mbps+ download) speeds by the end of 2030 (we suspect 97-99% may be more realistic, but that’s still good).

Furthermore, there’s a big question mark over how much of a realistic difference HS2 could make to broadband provision, since many parts of the areas on the HS2 route already have core fibre optic cables nearby. Sometimes the challenge is less about core fibre capacity and more about the cost of connecting individual homes in sparse rural communities. But clearly there will be some remote areas that could still benefit.