SIR – Councillor David Green is to be congratulated in making a stand against the unacceptable cost of HS2 which is not a necessity for our economic competitiveness.

For example, France and Spain are geographically about four times as large as the UK and it follows that the time distance between strategic points is four times as great.

Therefore, our current speeds of circa 100mph are already more than competitive.

If capacity is a problem then without doubt the present system could be organised better at a fraction of what the Government intend to spend The other salient question regarding HS2 is who is going to benefit most, those multinationals who will get the juicy contracts, or the general public who will have to pay for it?

John Pashley, Westcliffe Avenue, Baildon