‘HS3’ good news for Midlands transport campaign say business leaders

SUPPORT for a new high speed rail link between Leeds-Manchester – the so-called HS3 – is set to give added impetus to a Midlands crusade for better east-west transport connections, campaigners have said.
 
Midlands Connect, which champions strategic transport investment across the entire Midlands region, is set to issue its own report identifying where connectivity improvements are likely to have the greatest long-term impact on employment and the economy.
 
The alliance is a collaboration of Midlands-wide Local Enterprise Partnerships, Network Rail, the Highways Agency, various local authorities and the business community.
 
Midlands Connect chairman Andrew Cleaves, who is also transport lead on the Greater Birmingham and Solihull LEP and a member of the West Midlands Integrated Transport Authority, said: “Sir David’s report places great emphasis on the need to improve connectivity and we back that view 100%.

“While HS2 will bring cities like Birmingham, Nottingham, Manchester and Leeds far closer together there is still a need for far better connections between the West and East Midlands in general.

“More strategic transport investment is needed if our region is to realise its full economic potential and get the most from HS2.”

Jerry Blackett, chief executive of Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce and a member of Midlands Connect, said: “The report by Sir David Higgins, the HS2 chairman, underlines the importance not only of HS2 but of better regional transport options.
 
“The Midlands has consistently punched below its weight when it comes to infrastructure investment.
 
“The Northern Hub, a major rail project across the North now called HS3, is a powerful example of how a successful infrastructure project can attract Treasury funding when the economic geography is wide enough. This has led to the North West achieving three times the investment per head than the West Midlands.”
 
He said there was widespread recognition that HS2 would provide a vital stimulus to the region’s infrastructure. However, he said the region had to come together to ensure important infrastructure projects were placed above political borders.
 
“One way that the imbalance will be addressed is through the Midlands Connect project, an ambitious programme founded by policy makers across the Midlands that seeks to emulate the success of the Northern Hub in identifying how transport can improve the region’s economy,” he added.
 
The economic study launched by Midlands Connect is due to conclude shortly and the group has already begun to seek funding from the government and other sources.

Once up and running it will then focus on:
 
•         Developing an integrated plan for improved connectivity to HS2
•         Addressing east-west Midlands connections
•         Addressing capacity for freight movements
•         Improving connectivity to international markets via the region’s airports

Links have already been established by the West Midlands LEPs and chambers of commerce with their counterparts in the East Midlands. The East Midlands councils have also expressed their support.