Conclusion
On the basis set out in the accounting officer assessment, I note that:
The decision to retain or remove the Golborne Link should take a range of factors into account including funding, impact on the business case and delivery of the government’s wider strategic aims for the scheme.
Removing the Golborne Link reduces both the costs and the benefits of the Crewe to Manchester scheme. The reference case BCR is 0.7 to 0.9, depending on whether a 60 or 100 year appraisal period is used. However not all benefits of the scheme are captured within the BCR.
The VfM for the HS2 network, with or without the Golborne Link, is still expected to deliver a BCR above 1.
The wider strategic case for the both Crewe to Manchester and the wider network, which is built upon increased connectivity in the North, remains largely intact if the Golborne Link is removed.
The government has decided it wishes to consider affordable alternatives to the Golborne Link that maintain or improve overall VfM. Removing the Golborne Link at this stage means it is no longer part of the principle of the bill. This allows this work to continue while retaining optionality (as retaining the Golborne Link in the bill would, in effect, create a commitment to build it).
Work is at an early stage on alternatives and the costs and benefits of such options are currently uncertain. It would be possible to reintroduce the Golborne Link by a separate process if no viable alternative is identified, though this would incur additional costs.
There are no reasons of propriety or legality why the government
should not take the decision to remove the Golborne Link from the bill.
On this basis and the assumption that further work on alternatives will be based on options that present equal or better value for money as other outcomes, I conclude that removing the Golborne Link from the current HS2 Crewe to Manchester Bill and continuing with investment in the Crewe to Manchester scheme, should Parliament agree, is consistent with official guidance on managing public money.