Special report: Joining up the dots for a Greater North

IMPROVING transport links and bringing the cities of the North closer together to boost and develop economy growth was the raison d’etre behind the original concept of the Northern Powerhouse.

The prize for linking up the cities and creating a globally competitive region still remains great. The Northern Independent Economic Review, commissioned by Transport for the North, revealed the potential to add £97bn and 850,000 more jobs to the UK by 2050.

And transport and connectivity was the number one issue for improving the economy of the North amongst business leaders in TheBusinessDesk survey on rebalancing the UK economy, carried out with Eversheds.Everheds Northern Powerhouse report cover

Mark Robson, Yorkshire’s regional director of the Department of International Trade and a member of a recently created team looking at inward investment and the Northern Powerhouse, sums it up when he says: “The biggest problem is connectivity. This is really important across the North.”

Charlie Cornish, chief executive of Manchester Airport Group and a member of the recently created Northern Powerhouse Partnership think tank, also says the question of improving transport links is “crucial.”

He points out that it can take two hours to get from Leeds to Manchester by road “on a good day.”

“That vision of shrinking the North in terms of travel time is absolutely critical because you get a better movement of goods, people and services,” he says.

“That whole essence of there’s a Manchester and there’s a Leeds disappears, It becomes more like the Greater North.”

He adds: “Ultimately you need the UK joined up like the major economies of China and Germany. All their major cities are connected because they believe in the principal of trade and movement.”

In common with other business leaders Cornish believes the HS2 and HS3 rail projects should be starting now – and completed in parallel.

And he is frustrated by the delays and length of time needed to get nationally important infrastructure and transport projects like this off the drawing board.

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“We need to grow the North’s economy and then HS2 arrives in Manchester in 2033 according to the latest estimates. That’s just ludicrous.”

For Stephen Miller, managing director of Bank of America Merill Lynch in Chester, it’s not just about getting faster rail links to the capital.

He believes HS2 is 50 years too late and points out that it can take him as long to get from Chester to Manchester as it does to get to London. Those poor road and rail links, “directly impacts on our ability to hire.”

“A huge pool of talent sits all around us, which can’t get to us and we can’t distribute out into that network.”

He says the focus needs to be on east-west links as well as digital connectivity and he adds: “The physical and line of site internet connectivity we have here is shocking and that really needs to be addressed.”

Luke Raikes, head of transport at think tank IPPR North, also says that transport links within the North’s cities need to be improved and points out that London has been able to invest more in its infrastructure.

Warren Marshall of Peel Ports says that the private sector is investing huge sums of money in Northern infrastructure or “Northern capability” as he describes it.

He says: “Our plea to government is the private sector is willing to invest in infrastructure in the future, will you please sort out the antiquated road and rail infrastructure.

“There are things going in the North. The private sector is putting money into their infrastructure for the future and that should give government the confidence they need to reciprocate or accelerate.”

Download the full Rebalancing the UK Economy report for free here

Craig Burrow, Bruntwood regional director for Yorkshire, also believes there is a need to push forward with connectivity projects with more urgency.

He says: “A further challenge is the speed at which some of the infrastructure projects could be brought forward and could be delivered to truly, physically connect better those locations.”

However, according to Gerald Jennings, president of Leeds Chamber of Commerce, the issue now is not just about speed of delivery.

He says: “I’ve started to pick up that central government is starting to query already the level of investment needed in transport in this part of the world. They didn’t do that with Crossrail in London.”

Also highlighting the large difference between the amounts spent on transport in London and the North of England, which he describes as “disgraceful”, he adds: “The Department for Transport is almost asking us to negotiate against ourselves.

“There is something about the need to balance the economy. This part of the world does need to play a fuller part. But we can only do that if we have the right infrastructure. We are not making enough noise about this.

“We doff our cap to our paymasters in Whitehall and Westminster and that’s wrong.”

Alison Oldfield, partner at Eversheds, says: “There is some politics in just shouting a little bit louder.”

Dominic Gibbons, managing director of Wykeland Group, believes cutting the travel time between Leeds and Manchester could be a big ticket “early win” for the Northern Powerhouse. He sees mobility of skills as crucial to improving the North’s economic prospects.

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