Billions more for London as North loses out
Thames tunnel backlash as region starved of funds
PRESSURE IS mounting on the Government to step up its investment in Yorkshire’s transport links as Ministers are being urged to “break out” of their Londoncentric spending habits.
The call to action follows revelations that Ministers are preparing to spend up to £6bn on a new tunnel underneath the river Thames – on top of the billions already set aside for infrastructure projects in the South-East.
The announcement has already sparked criticism from researchers at IPPR North, who accused the Government of formulating transport policy in “reaction” to congestions problems in the South.
Local MPs and business leaders have also questioned the decision, arguing that big infrastructure projects in the North are just as important to the country’s prosperity as schemes around London.
“Transport investment in the North remains crucial to our future success, and therefore to the UK’s success,” said West and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce spokesman Mike Cartwright.
“This is why we are backing the Northern Powerhouse initiative and, in particular the transport elements such as the proposed high-speed trans-Pennine link.
“We have also just responded to the Industrial Strategy consultation... including calls to recognise the need to break out of the London-centric nature of our transport system.
“If schemes such as the Dartford Crossing tunnel are strategically important for the whole country, and not just London, as Chris Grayling claims, then so is Northern Powerhouse rail.”
Plans for the new multi-billion Dartford tunnel come amid ongoing uncertainty about the future of rail electrification projects in Yorkshire and growing frustration about delays on the A64 road between York and Scarborough,
Earlier this year, the Tory peer Baroness McIntosh and Thirsk and Malton MP Kevin Hollinrake issued fresh calls for the road to be dualled, claiming it would “make a massive difference” to people’s daily lives.
Unveiling plans for the new tunnel Transport Secretary Chris Grayling insisted it was “strategically important for the whole country”. He also stressed that work in the North such as the Ordsall Chord project in Manchester are part of “a really extensive improvement on a scale that simply hasn’t been seen for a very long time”.
However, IPPR North researcher Luke Raikes said the North “needs investment now more than ever” following the Brexit vote.
London is to receive more than half the country’s infrastructure Luke Raikes of think-tank IPPR North
“London is set to receive more than half the country’s public and public-private funded transport infrastructure,” he said.
“The Government’s industrial strategy should use infrastructure, alongside other interventions, to harness the potential of the North, instead of just reacting to congestion in the South-East.”
Mr Hollinrake said: “There is a long standing and quite outrageous unfairness in the way spending is distributed in this country which totally disadvantages the regions, including Yorkshire.
“I have raised this issue on many occasions in Parliament.”
IT’S ALL very well for the Transport Secretary Chris Grayling to say that the new multibillion pound road tunnel due to be built beneath the River Thames is “a UK project”, but the average commuter in the North could be forgiven for failing to see how it benefits them.
The scheme, linking Kent and Essex, is expected to cost £6bn, while the capital’s new east-west rail line, Crossrail, has a massive £14.8bn budget.
It’s hardly surprising that the influential think-tank IPPR North says £1,500 more per person is being spent on transport schemes in London than northern England, which will only confirm many people’s suspicions that a southern bias exists when it comes to regional transport spending figures.
Yorkshire is home to a thriving business sector but this risks being undermined by its creaking transport network.
You certainly don’t have to travel far on the region’s congested roads, the A64 from York to Scarborough being among the worst culprits, to appreciate the scale of the problem.
Yet it doesn’t have to be like this. IPPR North makes the compelling case that transport infrastructure projects should “harness the potential of the North” rather than “just reacting to congestion” in the SouthEast.
Investing in ambitious, value-for-money, schemes in the North of England would go a long way to helping rebalance the economy and would, in turn, ease pressure on the South.
Back in January, Mr Grayling told Leeds business leaders: “Great transport created the first Northern Powerhouse nearly two centuries ago, and it can create the second one in the future”.
He was right. But to do so it requires the necessary infrastructure investment otherwise all the talk of a Northern Powerhouse will be just that, talk, and the North-South divide will continue to widen even further.