HS2 plans could prevent logistics industry from moving forward

The Midlands logistics sector could be hit hard by HS2 plans to develop 150 acres of land at Washwood Heath into a rail maintenance depot.

Although the HS2 depot aims to boost employment in the West Midlands by at least 300 jobs, the land – which had been earmarked to locate the next wave of logistics development prior to HS2 – has the potential to create 6,000 jobs in the logistics industry and support the growing Birmingham manufacturing base.

Mike Price, partner at Johnson Fellows in Birmingham, says: “If the depot goes ahead as planned there will be a shortage of employment land. The focus will shift to recycling existing industrial sites elsewhere, but there will certainly be delays in bringing new land forward.”

HS2 may not arrive in Birmingham until 2026 at the earliest. Even if the depot proposals went ahead, the timing is unknown and the complex HS2 argument continues.