McLoughlin considers "cheaper" alternative to new HS2 northern hub at Crewe

Transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin has met Stoke-on-City leaders to hear their plans for an alternative new northern hub for HS2 which they say would be £5bn cheaper and have a bigger economic impact.

McLoughlin is consulting on the plans put forward by Sir David Higgins to bring the benefits of HS2 to northern England quicker by connecting them to existing rail services at a hub at Crewe. 

But Stoke-on-Trent leader Councillor Mohammed Pervez, who met McLoughlin to make the case, says that taking a 'Stoke route' between Birmingham and Manchester, with a Potteries station in north Staffordshire, would "deliver so much more for the national economy". 

The Crewe plan, meanwhile, would entail the station being moved to an out-of-town location.