Transport infrastructure body to add drive to Northern Powerhouse

THE wheels have been set in motion for a coherent approach to transport infrastructure that supports the Northern Powerhouse agenda.

Transport for the North welcomed Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin to discuss their ambitions at its first meeting in Leeds yesterday.

The plans include greater capacity and quicker journey times on the railways – particularly via a high-speed east-west railway linking Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds, Hull and Newcastle – building in connections with other schemes such as HS2 and the Atlantic Gateway, and improving the road network.

It is the first step of drawing up and delivering a comprehensive programme of strategic investment which will transform the North’s economic infrastructure and help maximise the region’s growth potential.

Transport for the North brings together local authorities from the north of England and other bodies including the Department for Transport, Highways Agency, Network Rail and HS2 Ltd. It was created in October to allow the North to speak with one voice on the big decisions to benefit the region as a whole.

Sir Richard Leese, leader of Manchester City Council who chaired the first meeting, believes there is agreement that the north can “achieve far, far more than by having a parochial competition between us”.

He said: “Transport for the North’s objective is to get the scale of investment into the transport networks that connect major population, mmajor business centres, across the north of England in order to transform our economy.

“It is the Northern Powerhouse. It is giving the scale, which we can do through improved transport, not only to rebalance the economy within the UK, but to be able to compete with large cities anywhere in the world.”

Sir Richard was confident that the momentum behind Transport for the North will not be derailed by the general election in May.

“We have already got an outline of the sort of schemes that we want to deliver across the North of England,” he said. “Some of them are improvements to existing infrastructure, some of them, like the proposed new railway line connecting east-west across the Pennines, are major interventions.

“We have already started putting numbers against that. We have already started getting commitments both from the existing government and from the opposition to the investment that is required.

“This is something that really does have legs and is going to run whatever the outcome of the general election.”

Mr McLoughlin added: “Rebalancing the economy and creating a northern powerhouse of jobs, investment, prosperity and bright futures, is a key objective of the government’s long term economic plan.

“Infrastructure does take time and it does need to be planned properly and that’s why I very much welcome what is happening and the way in which we are moving forward.”

Transport for the North will deliver an interim report in March 2015.