Pretty Damn Close if the latest plans are to be believed! HS2 as you may know is the proposed high speed rail link to connect London and the North. It will initially go as far as Birmingham where it will split into a “Y”, one leg going to Manchester, the other to Leeds and York via South Yorkshire.

Ah-ha so does that mean we’ll be able to jump on super duper fast trains to Leeds and London? Well probably no. Previous plans had the rail link following the M1 with a station at Meadowhall.

This annoyed Sheffield as it meant HS2 wasn’t going anywhere near the city centre, it also annoyed HS2 who are far more interested in getting to Leeds and York quickly then touching anywhere in South Yorkshire with a big stick.

The choice was to stick with Meadowhall or spend an extra two billion quid going through Sheffield itself. That was never going to happen and it fact HS2 decided to save a billion by bypassing Sheffield altogether and proposing a new route to  follow the M18.

Sheffield will now be linked to HS2 by the same old rusty bit of crap tin the Victorians put down. Bless their little hearts!

This hasn’t stopped the boss of the Sheffield City Region from claiming victory, Sheffield Council also seem to have not grasped the enormity of the extent to which they have been totally and hilariously screwed.

What does this mean for our area? Well if this route is followed HS2 will enter Rother Valley South right next to Wales Bar, sweeping up through Aston right next to the M1 and passing Thurcroft on a big viaduct. I reckon you’ll see it from the pit top in North Anston next to the new windmills.

…and we won’t be able to get onto it now the Meadowhall station is no more, we can simply wave at the folks from York and Leeds as they zoom along sipping their mocka-choka-chinos or whatever it is you call coffee in Leeds these days.

A poignant illustration of how our region is continually overlooked (in this case bypassed) by the UK at large? I think so.