The government has confirmed that the new HS2 rolling stock depot will be constructed in Leeds, driving forward local regeneration and creating up to 125 skilled jobs, ensuring Yorkshire benefits from the arrival of HS2.

With a crucial role in enabling 24-hour maintenance of the brand new high-speed trains, set to deliver faster journeys for passengers on the East Coast mainline, the depot will act as a catalyst for prosperity and productivity on the enterprise zone site and will attract new investment for the region.

The new site builds upon HS2’s commitment to create more than 100,000 new jobs and 2,000 apprentices, with the National Colleges for High Speed Rail in Doncaster and Birmingham able to train 1,200 students a year at full capacity. In addition, the University of Leeds’ new Institute for High Speed Rail and System Integration will train postgraduate engineers through MSc and PhD places, helping to provide a flow of skilled experts into the industry.

Chris Grayling, Transport Secretary, said:

Constructing this vital depot in Leeds underlines how the benefits of HS2 drive prosperity right across the UK, with Yorkshire playing a crucial role in maintaining the new high speed trains and delivering significantly better journeys for passengers.

The depot will act as an economic catalyst, creating skilled jobs, boosting the local economy by unlocking regeneration opportunities and driving continued investment.

This ensures Leeds will not only see immediate benefits when HS2 arrives but will see Yorkshire become a thriving hub for training the engineers that HS2 and future major projects will need.

The arrival of HS2 in Leeds will also be vital to the success of the South Bank redevelopment, one of the largest proposed regeneration projects in Europe, which could provide 12,000 new homes and support up to 40,000 jobs across the city region.

Professor Lisa Roberts, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research and Innovation at the University of Leeds said:

The location of the HS2 rolling stock depot, combined with the new advanced testing facilities to be built as part of the University’s Institute for High Speed Rail and System Integration are a significant step forward for UK high speed rail capability.

They position Leeds city region as a global centre for high speed rail research and development, so we’re working closely with HS2 to ensure our facilities are aligned with its needs and those of industry, so all sides can deliver for the country.

The chosen location for the depot reflects proposals put forward during a public consultation on the site, and will help ensure HS2 has fewer environmental impacts in the region by reducing the distance empty trains travel to and from Leeds station for overnight stabling.

Confirming the depot site in the Aire Valley also reduces the impact of HS2 on the village of Crofton, where the depot site was previously proposed.

Councillor Judith Blake, Leader of Leeds City Council, said;

I welcome the news that the HS2 depot will be located at Gateway 45 in Leeds.

It’s now important that through our continued work with HS2 and the Department for Transport that we finalise the proposals for the University of Leeds’ Institute for High Speed Rail, which will be world leading in its field, and underpin the continued success of the Leeds City Region Enterprise Zone.

Taken together, both of these facilities located at Gateway 45 will make Leeds and the region a global centre for advanced rail and high speed technology, further strengthening the economy.

Leeds City Council are already working with our partners across Leeds city region to ensure that people will have the right skills and be ready to take advantage of the skilled jobs and other opportunities these developments will bring.

An evidence review commissioned by Public Health England and the Centre for Ageing Better has found that muscle and bone strengthening and balance activities continue to have great health benefits for all adults, including older adults aged 65 years and over.

In older adults, poor muscle strength increases the risk of a fall by 76% and those who have already had a fall are three times more likely to fall again. Strengthening and balance activities not only help to prevent this, but also help improve your mood, sleeping patterns, increase your energy levels and reduce the risk of an early death.

Activities found to have the most benefit for muscle and bone strengthening include:

• ball games
• racket sports
• dance
• Nordic walking
• resistance training (usually training with weights, but including body weight exercises which can be performed anywhere)

The review underlines the importance of the UK CMO’s guidance that all adults need to undertake strengthening and balance activities suitable for them at least twice per week in order to maintain and improve health.

For those at risk of falls or fracture, supervised structured exercise is also recommended at a pace that suits the individual to help maintain independence and support healthy ageing.

Dr Alison Tedstone, Head of Diet, Obesity and Physical Activity at PHE, said:

Alongside aerobic exercise such as brisk walking, all adults should be aiming to do strengthening and balancing activities twice per week. On average we’re all living longer and this mixture of physical activities will help us stay well in our youth and remain independent as we age.

It can also help ease those difficult or life-changing moments like pregnancy, menopause, onset of or diagnosis of disease, retirement and recovery from hospitalisation.

Jess Kuehne, Senior Engagement Manager, Centre for Ageing Better added:

It’s clear that we need to give equal weighting to activities that boost muscle and bone strength and improve balance rather than simply focusing on aerobic exercise.

There is significant potential to make savings to health and social care services if we do more to promote muscle strengthening and balance activities and recognise their role in helping to keep people healthy and independent for longer, particularly as they age.

Current statistics show that falls are responsible for around 95% of all hip fractures, costing the NHS over £1 billion per year.

For employers and the economy, musculoskeletal health conditions are the second most common cause of sickness absence in the UK, accounting for 30.8 million days lost in work.

By building on aerobic activities such as brisk walking, strengthening and balance activities such as dancing or tennis can help adults to prevent these health problems and enjoy ageing well.

I would like to update the house on plans for the HS2 Phase 2b eastern leg rolling stock depot. I am today (4 July 2018) confirming the depot should be located at a site in the Aire Valley, adjacent to the M1, to the east of Leeds. This decision is laid out in today’s publication of the HS2 Phase 2b eastern leg rolling stock depot consultation response.

It was originally proposed that the depot be sited near Crofton, east of Wakefield. Due to operational and community concerns after the M18 / eastern route decision was announced, I asked HS2 Ltd to review alternative options for the depot site. The east of Leeds site was identified and a consultation seeking views on this proposed location was launched on 17 July 2017 and ran until 12 October 2017. The consultation revealed broad support for the new location.

This decision has been made with local development plans on the wider site in mind. HS2 Ltd will continue to work with stakeholders to support local regeneration proposals on the wider site.

The government’s national housing agency today publishes its latest Land Development and Disposal Plan, which details the nationwide portfolio of sites it plans to market for development.

For the first time an interactive map is available alongside the Development and Disposal plan allowing users to identify sites geographically and to view site-level details, including red-line plans, online.

To support its ambitious disposal plans, Homes England will provide improved technical packs and site information as well as a standard Building Lease to ensure a consistent approach across the country. These will incorporate clear approaches to the pace of build-out, Modern Methods of Construction, design and quality of place and tenure mix.

Stephen Kinsella, Executive Director – Land at Homes England, said:

“As part of Homes England’s expanded remit, we will be much more active in the land market, using our increased resources to ramp up the acquisition of land opportunities and developing new ways to partner other government departments to bring forward more sites more quickly. We are ambitious about our disposals for the year ahead so we’re really keen to talk to developers about the opportunities in our latest plan.”

The publication of the Land Development and Disposal Plan follows the news that Homes England is launching a new framework that will help speed up the delivery of new homes, which will be in place in the autumn. The procurement of a new Multidisciplinary and Technical Services Frameworks will broaden the technical and design services available to support Homes England and other public bodies to accelerate the supply of new homes, with the frameworks providing direct access to the professional, technical and design services needed to prepare land for housing development.

Sites listed in the Land Development and Disposal Plan will be disposed of on a competitive basis through Homes England’s Delivery Partner Panel (DPP3), through a private treaty sale, bespoke OJEU process or auction.

Ends

For further media information, contact Patsy Cusworth – patsy.cusworth@homesengland.gov.uk Tel: 079677 2328

Notes to Editors

Homes England is the new housing delivery organisation that has been created to adopt a more commercial approach to respond to the long term housing challenges facing this country. The new, expanded agency will play a far bigger role in investing in supply and intervening in the market to help deliver 300,000 homes a year by the middle of the next decade.

Homes England will act differently from its predecessor, bringing together money, land, expertise and planning and compulsory purchase powers to accelerate the supply of new homes and address affordability issues in areas of highest demand.

For more information visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/homes-england.

Organisations can now apply to manage a £3 million social investment fund that supports culture and creativity across the Northern Powerhouse.

The money, which was initially announced by the Prime Minister in May, is the next phase of the Northern Cultural Regeneration Fund that will provide a lasting cultural legacy from this summer’s Great Exhibition of the North, hosted by Newcastle – Gateshead.

The £3 million pot is available to fund managers who are looking to invest in projects that use arts and culture to benefit local communities. These could include programmes where theatre is used to improve child literacy or art workshops for the elderly.

It will also look to kick-start further co-investment in the region and attract additional social investment funding for the North.

Michael Ellis, Arts, Heritage and Tourism Minister, said:

Culture is a powerful tool that can be used to help people reach their full potential and build stronger communities.

The Northern Cultural Regeneration Fund is supporting innovative projects that use the arts for social good, inspire future talent and provide a lasting legacy from the Great Exhibition of the North. I encourage local organisations who share these values to apply.

The organisation selected to manage the fund will design and administer the investment programme and make funding awards from April 2019 until March 2021.

A total of £11 million has already been allocated from the Northern Cultural Regeneration fund to projects in the Lake District, Blackpool and Bradford.

Charities, social enterprises and creative businesses will be able to bid for up to £150,000 and repaid loans will then be reinvested in the sector in the North.