Camden leader Olszewski hails ‘new future’ after chancellor commits to bringing HS2 to Euston

Council leader Richard Olszewski has declared that Camden is due to embark on a “new chapter” as the government pledges that HS2 will reach Euston station.

Following a year of uncertainty for the borough, on Wednesday chancellor of the exchequer Rachel Reeves committed funding for the high-speed railway line to end at the station on Euston Road.

In a statement published shortly after, Cllr Olszewski (Labour) said:

“This is an opportunity to start a new chapter, and it means that we can begin to take the necessary steps towards transforming Euston into a thriving place.

“It helps us clarify a future for Euston, and the communities that live around it. Our residents and businesses have faced 14 years of blight, lost homes and livelihoods to HS2.

“We owe it to them to deliver genuine change and a lasting legacy in Euston — and we know what the future can be: thousands of new jobs, the restoration of lost green spaces, and the building of much needed affordable homes and community facilities — all delivered alongside a new station.”

When former prime minister Rishi Sunak scrapped the northern leg of HS2 just over a year ago, he also said the rail project’s extension to the Euston terminus would need private investment — or else the line would end at Old Oak Common.

Sunak claimed this would save the taxpayer £6.5bn.

Now, Reeves has committed to pay for the tunnelling work from Old Oak Common to Euston with the aim of “catalysing private investment into the station and local area.”

In a post on X, Olszewski added that this “new future” could bring “up to £34,000 jobs, 2,500 new homes, more open spaces and wider community benefits”.

The 7.2km tunnel being built between Euston and Old Oak Common has seen numerous delays, which councillors have condemned as costing homes, businessness and schools for residents living near Euston station.

In March 2023, the Camden Leader’s predecessor Georgia Gould told the Department for Transport (DfT) that the borough could not tolerate a “partially abandoned building site, with huge areas fenced off, creating a barrier between our communities and a general stagnation which leads to opportunities being lost”.

Due to funding uncertainty, since March the excavation works at the tunnel construction site between Parkway and Hampstead Road have been on hold.

In July HS2 also reported that the previous government’s decision to axe plans for five new platforms at Euston Station cost taxpayers over £150m.

The new government has not confirmed whether it will stick to the streamlined six-platform terminus, or return to the original design for 11 platforms.

Few details have been released and uncertainty still remains about how the building of the new Euston station will be funded. The Commons Public Accounts Committee reported in February that it was “highly sceptical” that the Department for Transport would be able to attract enough private investment to fund bringing the line to Euston.

The government has not given a figure for the amount of funding it will commit but tunnelling is likely to cost around £1bn and the cost of the new station could be anywhere between £3bn and £5bn — a cost that has little or no chance of even a consortium of developers taking on without a lot more public money being committed.

Cllr Camren Aref-Adib, cabinet member for finance and cost-of-living, joined his leader in heaping praise for the chancellor’s pledge, along with her other plans for Britain’s finances, on social media.

This was “a budget that delivers for local government and Camden: [a] 3.2 per cent real terms increase, [the] extension of household support fund, HS2 to Euston, reform of Right to Buy, [and a] £500m top-up of Affordable Homes,” he wrote in a post on X.

The Fitzrovia Partnership business group said the decision to bring HS2 to Euston “is welcome news for Fitzrovia”.

Anti-HS2 protesters held a demonstration outside Euston station on Wednesday during the chancellor’s budget speech.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service understands a full response to Reeves’ tax and spending plans will be delivered by Cllr Olszewski to the chamber at the next full council meeting on 18 November.

Additional reporting by Linus Rees.