HS2 - What does it really mean for us?

A lot of people have been getting quite excited about the news of "HS2" - a new high speed railway line to link the North and the South.

It seems like one of the preferred routes will be London - B'ham - Manchester - Glasgow. This has lead to speculation about journey times, which are suggested to be just over an hour to Manchester.

All seems great so far, but what about if you don't live in Manchester?

The line will probably come through some part of Macclesfield, because we're in the way. If it does it'll mean compulsory purchase orders and unpopular decisions about which part of our beautiful landscape it carves up. Irrespective of the route, it won't be stopping here. I expect it'll have to be a non-stop service, otherwise you wouldn't be able to manage those journey times.

So the great concern to me is how this effects our current rail service. At present, we have a very good service to Manchester and London. This is essentially because we are part of the UK's leading rail line and Virgin are constantly pushing to offer an improved service. Hence the Pendolinos and the recent track improvements that give us all those replacement buses on a Sunday.

But what happens when our line is no longer the cutting edge? Will there be the incentive to offer quicker times, nicer trains and more capacity?

Will the west coast mainline become the new slow line, stopping at every station and getting us to London in 4 hours?

Transport is crucially important to building a strong economy in Macclesfield. We suffer from being so far away from the Motorway, and we can't change that. But we can fight for a better rail service.

And I will.