BUSINESS park boss Paul Taylor had a huge surprise and shock when he studied the detail in the proposed northern stage of the High Speed Rail (HS2) project – which passes through Culcheth, Warrington.
Although he supports the project believing it will bring future prosperity to the whole of the north west, seeing the line on the plan as it passed through Taylor Business Park from corner to corner was quite an eye opener!
Now Paul (pictured right) has joined forces with local campaigners in the hope that some small tweaks can be made to the plan – to save the business park – and most importantly the livelihoods of the 500 people who work there!
Paul said: “We’re a third generation family managed business with the fourth on the way. We like what we do and we’re actually quite good at it. This isn’t your average business park.
“We have around fifty properties and have consistently run at around 98% occupancy for the last ten years, and those haven’t been easy years for anyone.
“There are around fifty companies on here and around five hundred employees, a lot of them live locally too. If we were to vanish from the map that’s five hundred families instantly affected, local businesses in the village would lose those companies and those families as daily customers, the economic repercussions for the village itself would be huge. We intend to make sure they’ve put as much thought into this part of the route, which will be the main route up to Scotland, not a spur to Wigan as most seem to think, as they have to the rest of the route down south.”
Paul believes a lot of the changes made to the Northern part of the route were done at the last minute and he cannot see how the cheapest way through the area is through the business park and the village. He says it makes no sense.
“The council have been extremely sympathetic and supportive, and they are aware that without us there would be £750,000 less in rates per year being collected in the borough, as well as he increased costs of providing for those who are out of work, or losing companies that are based on here to other local authorities as there isn’t anywhere else in Warrington that offers the same level of security and service that we do here,” added Paul.
“We run the site like a family business should be run. We employ our own maintenance staff, gardeners and security guards. We don’t use agencies at all for that sort of thing which is why our tenants like it here. We’re always on site to help our tenants with anything they need. Most other (probably London based) landlords would point their tenants in the direction of Yell.Com and tell them to look for a plumber or whatever else it was they needed.
“The good thing is that it will be a long time before the railway is built so the immediate impact is minor, but the long term impact is worrying and we only have 12-16 months to make a difference to the route, if we can. We are putting our own solution forward by means of tweaking the existing route so that it misses the site, and also gives the village a wider berth. We will be approaching HS2 directly with our proposal and reasoning behind it and we will also be supporting the local HS2 action group (CADRAG) in their efforts.
“I must say it’s been a breath of fresh air, especially some of the campaigning that went on in the last election, to see the local councillors, past and present, all working together in the interests of Culcheth, Glazebury and Croft; Keith and Sue Bland, Paul Campbell, Matt Smith, Chris Vobe and Jacqui Johnson have all been instrumental in bringing the villages together and finding people who have the time and ability to help with the problems we’re facing at the moment.
“Our MP, Helen Jones, and Terry O’Neill the leader of the council have also been very supportive throughout the process and their support will be crucial to our success in this.
“Time is of the essence now though. It may be a while before we’ll see a train leave a platform in Manchester and set off to London at 200+ mph, but there’s only a short time where we can attempt to make a difference to the existing route.
Paul concluded: “If you want to help then get in touch with CADRAG and see what you can do. The more the merrier!”
To contact the group email [email protected]
1 Comment
There is no evidence at all to support the assertion that HS2 will bring prosperity to the North West. The only evidence, based on research conducted after similar schemes in Europe, is that it is the city where the line originates that benefits. In other words, London and the south east.
Business travellers and commuters will be able to get to London that bit quicker, assuming that they live next door to one of the (limited number) HS2 stations. HS2 phase 2 (the bit we’re talking about) will only have stations in Birmingham and Manchester.
All HS2 will do is to make it easier for a small number of people to do business in London, whilst the rest of subsidise it and suffer the blight it brings.
Make sure you tell Helen Jones MP that Warrington doesn’t want HS2, she seems to think we do!