HS2: Why the race is on for Nottingham

HS2 sounds like a fabulous opportunity for Nottingham. But we also have to recognise that it’s a potentially significant competitive threat.
So may be the fact that it’s 20 years away is not necessarily a bad thing.
Examining the route it will take tells you three things: that the project is almost certain to run into opposition from people whose properties are likely to be bulldozed out of the way, and that it is an extremely ambitious civil engineering project.
In the East Midlands alone, the route tunnels directly underneath the runway at East Midlands Airport, under the M1 at two points, over rivers, through residential areas.
The third thing? If it stays anywhere near on budget I’d be amazed.
But the challenge. Being 51 minutes from London, just over 20 from Birmingham and a similar sprint to Leeds sounds like a major opportunity. And that’s the way it should be seen – an opportunity to get across the benefits of Nottingham to cities and conurbations suffering the economic and social pressures of crowding and expense.
And the benefits of Greater Nottingham and beyond and as a business and leisure destination: brilliant transport infrastructure, an international centre for life sciences research, a global centre for data analytics expertise, what should by then be a burgeoning digital/creative quarter, a thriving enterprise zone, clean technology expertise, and proximity to the high-tech engineering giant that is Derby.
HS2 could solve staffing problems for some of our indigenous businesses, too, putting them in touch with a wider pool of talent.
But HS2 also means the pressure is on Nottingham yet again to get itself into an attractive shape as a place to live and thrive – great shopping and leisure, first-rate visitor attractions, high-quality schools, a clean and safe environment.
We need that major retail development to happen so that Broadmarsh gets tidied up and the Victoria Centre modernised. We need to make the most of the castle and Robin Hood. And what about a Museum of east Midlands Industry somehwere between Nottingham and Derby (may be nearer Derby, because of a heritage that stretches from Arkwright to the best jet engines in the world)?
Much has been achieved here over the years. But HS2 means we will be compared with bigger, better places and raises the bar.
It isn’t just a train that’s barrelling down that high-speed line. It’s a big challenge.

That High Street 'bloodbath'

Another high street bloodbath? I’m not so sure. The stories of Jessops, Comet, HMV and others are the stories of businesses which died long ago.
They are the zombies, businesses whose model was holed below the waterline by e-tailing, technological change and so-so service and a generic proposition. Shoppers deserted them, debts piled up and it was only credit from banks and suppliers that kept them alive.
If anyone does shed tears for their demise they must be a crocodile: just like the hordes who say they wish there were more independent local shops, they don’t practice what they preach.
My colleague Ian Griffin has already delivered some serious insights into Jessops in the Leicester Mercury and on his blog (insights better than the nationals, BTW). Suffice to say, the fact that I’m tapping this out on an iPhone 4S with an 8 megapixel still and video camera tells you all you need to know about what happened to the market for snap cameras.
And the last time I went into Jessops with my Nikon they tried to flog me something I simply didn’t need – a sharp contrast to the days when it was the go-to place for real photography enthusiasts.
It was the same story with Comet, a business which didn’t offer anything that wasn’t available elsewhere. There was no added value in a Comet sale, service was unexceptional, and the Teflon-coated venture capital deal which kept it alive towards the end has left a very nasty taste in the mouth.
As for HMV…let’s go back to that iPhone and click on the iTunes app. When you do, stores like HMV die a little every time. Why would I – or anyone else – travel to a store to buy music or film when we can sample both online and get it delivered straight to our device?
I’m not sure that’s as cut-and-dried as conventional wisdom suggests. HMV subsidiary Fopp still has an enthusiast following and the sense that what’s on the shelves is being chosen and curated by people who know their market and care about it. There may still be some mileage in that.
Similarly, there are still decent numbers of people who buy CDs and DVDs because digital disc players remain in production. Granted, a lot of them now buy from bargain stands in supermarkets, but there is probably still enough business in cities for some kind of entertainment-based retail chain. We’ll see.
I don’t think the demise of these chains tells us anything we don’t already know about the challenges facing retailers and retail destinations. Rather, it sends out a warning that this could be the year when zombie companies of all kinds – businesses surviving on credit lines and little else – finally come off life support.
There may be some cries about ruthless banks, hard-hearted suppliers and a weak economy when that happens.
Wiser counsels might observe that throwing good money after bad does nothing to help an economy recover. Better to spend it in businesses which have got real opportunities to grow.