Britain needs HS2

SIR – Lord Wolfson (Business, September 30) joins the misguided calls for HS2 to be scrapped.

The population is increasing and the number of vehicles on the roads is increasing even faster, leading to long delays and atmospheric pollution. We should be taking steps to get traffic off the roads and on to public transport systems, of which railways are the best example.

Faster rail connections and more direct lines are needed to encourage this, and HS2 should be only the first of a more comprehensive network of high-speed rail links.

Alan Shaw

Halifax, West Yorkshire

SIR – Lord Wolfson quite rightly points out that scrapping HS2 would save the country about £100 billion.

The works have already carved a path through a huge swathe of farmland from London to Birmingham. This pathway could be put to good use. It could be a route for a water supply to the South East, then covered with solar panels, which would save further farmland from destruction. In some areas it could be the site of housing.

Gill Jessop

Isley Walton, Leicestershire