Coronavirus: "HS2 manpower and money should go to Covid-19 effort"

18 March 2020, 15:51

Nick Ferrari was told that the UK should be finding money from less urgent projects such as HS2 and redirecting the manpower and money towards the coronavirus effort.

TV presenter and naturalist Chris Packham was on the line to Nick Ferrari to express his opinions on the project. He believed that the UK should be taking their foot off the gas on the HS2 project and focussing all finances on combatting coronavirus.

Mr. Packham told Nick that "the sums of money involved are colossal" in HS2 and that if even a fraction was put into the coronavirus effort that it would make a huge difference.

"Redirecting the man power to help people through this crisis" is another strategy that Chris Packham believes would go a long way in terms of fighting the disease spread.

Mr. Packham said that "the world will be a different place" after coronavirus and the public are slowly becoming aware of this. He called for action to be taken with this in mind.

The naturalist was critical of the environmental impacts of the HS2 project. "It's enormously expensive and environmentally damaging" he said.

If money from HS2 was redirected into the coronavirus effort, Mr. Packham believed there was endless potential for areas to spend the money in.

The government could put a massive cash injection "into the care of the vulnerable and the elderly" and also into the on the ground support for the NHS while fighting the virus, Mr. Packham believed.

"HS2 is enormously damaging" to the environment in the naturalist's point of view. Transferring the efforts from the transport project into fighting coronavirus would be the best redirection of funds that could be done according to Mr. Packham.