Frustrated businesses urge Chancellor to invest in transport

Scheme will ease congestion

Manchester’s Chamber of Commerce is calling on the Chancellor to invest an extra £43bn in transport infrastructure in next week’s budget.

The Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce has joined forces with other regions to call for extra funding.

The city has been hit by serious congestion in recent months triggered largely by major roadworks in the Regent Road area of the city. The works are expected to take a year to complete.

And earlier this year a timetable change by Northern Rail resulted in chaos across the region.

Journeys into the city are being delayed by up to an hour and even Manchester United were delayed as the team drove to a Champions League game at Old Trafford.

Chancellor Philip Hammond ahead of the 2017 Budget

The letter to Philip Hammond reads: “Next week’s Budget accords a distinct opportunity for the Chancellor to give some much-needed certainty to business at this time of concern and apprehension over Brexit.

“Moving to enact the recommendation within the recent National Infrastructure Assessment of an additional £43billion transport investment in the regions outside London would be a positive signal to investors and also go some way towards laying the foundations for the long-term economic prosperity of the UK as a whole.

“As three chambers of commerce covering the metropolitan areas of Bristol, Greater Manchester and London, and a combined GVA of almost £500 billion, we know connectivity matters to business.

“Business thrives on speed of connection whether that’s moving employees, accessing skills, linking networks, transporting goods or raw materials or digital connectivity.

“Travel both within and between our city regions is not easy. For instance, getting employees and goods into our city centres is often tortuous, hampered by underinvestment and high congestion.

“Whilst transiting, by any mode, between the great northern cities of Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield can be a tortuous, time consuming experience. This is not good for business or Britain plc.

“Beyond Transport for London’s influence, there are glaring weak points in even the capital’s transport network.

“On top of this, cost of travel between regions is disproportionate to the connections.

“Budget 2018 is an opportunity to make bold investment decisions to ensure that ALL of the UK remains competitive after Brexit.

“We’re calling for a more strategic approach towards the allocation of public monies for transport investment. This would prompt more businesses, especially those from outside the UK, to take a closer look at the newly devolved English metro regions as locations to invest and locate.

“The UK has long dragged its feet on transport infrastructure. Next year’s Spending Review – on the eve of Brexit – should provide certainty to regional transport infrastructure with funding in place for the next twenty years.”

A spokesman for the Manchester-Salford Inner Relief Route works, which is being carried out by Manchester and Salford Councils, said: “These major works will significantly improve traffic flow on this busy route once they have finished by increasing capacity at key junctions by up to 20 per cent.

“Unfortunately, there is no way to deliver these long-term improvements without some degree of short-term disruption and we recognise that is frustrating. But without these works, the road would become more clogged long-term and people would end up spending more time stuck in queues.

“We are doing all we can to complete these works as quickly and safely as realistically possible. In the meantime, we would continue to encourage people to adapt their travel plans wherever possible, to avoid or reduce the impact on them.”

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