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# County councillors fear new Prime Minister could revive HS2 project
- URL: https://lichfieldlive.co.uk/county-councillors-fear-new-prime-minister-could-revive-hs2-project/
- Published: 2026-07-25T08:06:48.000Z
- Updated: 2026-07-25T08:14:06.000Z
- Description: Meeting raises concerns that Andy Burnham might look to continue line north of Lichfield.
- Author: Kerry Ashdown, Local Democracy Reporter
- Tags: Politics, Transport, HS2

THE appointment of a new Prime Minister has sparked concerns from Staffordshire councillors that plans for a high speed rail line north of Lichfield could be revived.

Former Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham took the keys to 10 Downing Street this week.

Cllr Martin Murray, leader of Staffordshire County Council, said while there were areas of agreement with the new Prime Minister's views, the issue of HS2 was still something his administration did not agree with.

> "We are ready to work with him to deliver our priorities and those of the communities we serve.  
>  
> "The funding of SEND, fairer funding for schools, greater national investment for highways and local government reorganisation will be high on our agenda.  
>  
> "Burnham is a keen supporter of devolution – this is an area we broadly agree on.  
>  
> "He is also a keen supporter of high-speed rail links, something we don’t agree on when it carves through swathes of Staffordshire and brings little tangible benefit to our people.  
>  
> "This will be another key issue for Staffordshire and something we will be raising with both the new Prime Minister and the new Mayor of Greater Manchester when they are elected on 30th July."

Cllr Jeremy Pert added:

> "HS2 brings no benefit to Staffordshire – it is a chronic mess. Landowners are still unpaid, communities have lived through 15 or more years of uncertainty about whether they are going to be blighted by this railway line.  
>  
> "The only real beneficiary is the HS2 executives. I’m completely against reviving the dead end of a train line."

Conservative opposition group leader Cllr Philip White also spoke of the impact of HS2 on the county over the past 15 years.

He said:

> "It is deeply worrying that Andy Burnham is now going to continue this with his interest in HS2, but has no money to pay for it.  
>  
> "The important thing for us though here in this chamber, who all care about Staffordshire, is that always we try and take the good from what’s on offer.  
>  
> "One thing I will welcome from the Starmer administration is that they have shown some seriousness in terms of SEND reform and I think we can all agree that’s something that is necessary, so we look forward to seeing that continued.  
>  
> "The other thing we all want in this chamber is devolution – we know that Andy Burnham is a big fan of that.  
>  
> "But let’s hope he remembers that Staffordshire is not a city and that devolution is not just something for the big places – it’s for places like Staffordshire that are made up of lots of little communities."

At the full council meeting, Cllr Murray also spoke of the Northern Powerhouse Rail plans to boost connections between cities, which were revealed in January.

They included a new line between Manchester and Birmingham, described as a "long term objective", to follow multi-billion-pound investment in rail services in the north, with the aim of ensuring sufficient future capacity and better connectivity on the West Coast Main Line.

The county council leader said:

> "They made an announcement to do this link that goes straight through the county of Staffordshire and they didn’t even have the decency to inform councillors – not even the chief executive.  
>  
> "If they want to come through here they must have a conversation with us and they must put stops in Staffordshire."