UK high speed rail: toffs' lawns or jobs for the north

[John Ashworth]

Southern toffs' lawns or jobs for the north, ask new HS2 rail link posters

Posters will present opponents of high-speed line as well-heeled southerners who don't care about jobs in northern England

* Allegra Stratton, political correspondent
* The Guardian, Monday 20 June 2011

The campaign for a high-speed rail line between London and Birmingham is targeting critics with a new advertising campaign in the north of England depicting southerners as "toffs" who care more about their lawns than northern jobs.

Posters for the campaign, launched today, feature a well-heeled man in a pinstripe suit outside his large country pile, with the words: "Their lawns or our jobs". The adverts will be run across buses, trains and transport hubs in the north-west and north-east of England.

It was described as the beginning of a "significant shift" in the Campaign for High Speed Rail before the end of public consultation in 43 days' time. The campaign is an independent body composed of civil society groups alongside businesses including Morrisons, Greggs, Goldman Sachs and the leaderships of the main northern cities.

It was reported in the Sunday Times that even the Queen is concerned about the proposed route of the £34bn HS2 line. Prince Andrew is said to have raised the issue with Treasury officials last year on account of his mother's concern that passing trains would upset her horses at Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire, which hosts the Royal Show and 200 other events each year.

A source for the campaign said: "The message... I think highlights the frustration felt in large parts of the country that a very small number of well-funded Nimbys may be able to derail a scheme that will do so much good to so many people in Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield, Newcastle and elsewhere."

The route was announced by transport secretary Philip Hammond in December and will get passengers from London to Birmingham in 49 minutes. The government was revealed last week to have offered some £20m in compensation to those homeowners affected by the route.