Time to rebalance the economy, says Ashcroft
IN the Budget for Greater Manchester to be released this week, the chief executive of pro.manchester John Ashcroft will argue it is time for the government to honour the pledge to rebalance the economy and investment towards the regions.
This month, Boris Johnson pledged to invest more than £1bn over the next decade in cycle schemes, including a 15-mile east-west route which the Mayor dubbed ‘Crossrail’ for the bicycle.
“This will mean more will be spent on cycling in London, over the next ten years, than has been spent on all forms of transport in Greater Manchester over the last ten.” said Dr Ashcroft. “Consider this in the context of the underlying level of funding available to GM in comparison to London.”
Payback is not always part of the decision making progress, according to Dr Ashcroft who added that £15.7bn was committed to the cost of constructing Crossrail in 2007, which has a modest benefit to cost ratio of 2:1 under the Department of Transport’s own estimates.
The Northern Hub offers a benefit to cost with twice the rate of payback, yet it has struggled to secure investment of £0.5bn.
The budget will be presented this Thursday by economist Dr Ashcroft on behalf of a broad range of Greater Manchester partners, public and private. The presentation includes representations from the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce and business leaders in the North West.
