Case study

Saving HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail

Challenge:

Despite wide-ranging local political support for HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail, this was not being leveraged to generate the national support needed to secure the delivery of both HS2 and NPR. We recognised that a coalition of business, civic and political leaders was needed to demonstrate the support for the projects and mobilise national leaders to commit to continuation of the projects.

We created a campaign group called Connecting Britain, which brought together MPs, politicians and business leaders from across the political spectrum to call for the delivery of the projects.

Created Connected Britain campaign branding, including building a website, social media channels, and physical collateral such as pledge boards, leaflets and banners for conference appearances;
Developed a holistic media and social media strategy, utilising platforms such as Twitter to demonstrate the level of cross-party support and build momentum behind the campaign;
Built strong links with national, regional and local media throughout the campaign, producing news stories, opinion pieces and comment which regularly received coverage;
Garnered widespread political engagement with MPs and parliamentary candidates during the 2019 general election, using our campaign materials to demonstrate the levels of cross-party support from both existing and prospective MPs;
Commissioned polling of local businesses to gather information on the benefits of the projects to businesses in the area;
Provided strategic support throughout the campaign, for political, media and broader stakeholder engagement, including direct engagement with politicians and their teams.

HS2 was saved by leveraging local political support to secure national political support.

We generated an integrated campaign to highlight widespread support for HS2
We publicly confirmed government backing for HS2 post 2019 general election
We raised awareness of the benefits of HS2 and NPR, both within key stakeholder groups and the public
We generated long-term support for the continuation of the projects