Black Country growth will remain weak without better infrastructure

GROWTH in the Black Country and other parts of the West Midlands will remain weak until there is a sustainable, long-term UK transport strategy, business leaders in the area have said.

Colin Leighfield, chair of the Black Country Chamber of Commerce’s Transport Group said cross-party support on reliable infrastructure was the only sensible solution to economic growth.

Leighfield, also a director of B E Wedge, said: “Transport infrastructure is not a political issue it is an economic one and until we have cross party support on a long term UK-wide multimodal transport infrastructure spending programme, the growth of areas of the UK like the Midlands will be weaker than necessary.”

He said the Government seemed hell-bent on delivering growth to the areas covered by the Northern Powerhouse when the Black Country and other areas were just as much I need of support.

“The politically driven prejudice towards the Northern strategy appears to disadvantage the Midlands and that is not acceptable because the productive dynamism that is essential to the success of the economy is based more strongly here,” he said.

“Having HS2 is not enough on its own for this region: we have been asking for some time that the country’s aviation strategy and road building strategy all work together with HS2 to rebalance the economy.”

He described some of the Transport Secretary’s recent announcements on the Network Rail investment programme as “disturbing” and expressed doubt that acceptable improvements could be met within the time scales being outlined.

He said the delays smacked of “Treasury influence to support pre-budget austerity measures”.

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