Businesses lobby over economic benefits of high speed rail plans

A LEADING Yorkshire business organisation says it hopes to convince the Government of the “wider economic benefits” the proposed Northern Powerhouse Rail high speed network will bring to the North.

The West and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce reiterated its support for the rail link between the great cities of the North after The Yorkshire Post revealed that the submission of plans to the Government had been delayed due to concerns that parts of the network were being prioritised over others.

The business case drawn up by Transport for the North (TfN) for Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) was due to be handed in to the Department for Transport for consideration this month, with a decision due in 2019. But it will not now be signed off until February at the earliest after local leaders east of the Pennines raised concerns that the Manchester-toLiverpool leg could be built before the trans-Pennine element.

The Yorkshire Post understands from multiple sources that leaders in West Yorkshire and Newcastle have both stressed to Transport for the North the importance of a ‘whole network’ approach rather than smaller elements being fast-tracked.

Last month, it emerged that Chancellor Philip Hammond and Transport Secretary Chris Grayling were considering whether the HS2 high-speed rail project connecting London to Leeds and Manchester could be extended to Liverpool.

It is understood any extension could form the first stage of NPR, but would happen more quickly than the rest of the scheme. The lack of agreement meant the item last week at TfN’s board where the strategic outline business case for NPR was due to be agreed was shelved at the last minute.

Business and civic leaders in Bradford have been pushing for the plans to include a stop in the city centre and were boosted by Transport Secretary Chris Grayling after he spoke of his “strong commitment” to improving the city’s transport links.

Mike Cartwright, the Chamber’s policy and representation executive, said: “West and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce remains fully supportive of the NPR project and we are doing all that we can to help build the strongest possible business case for bringing the line into Bradford, including speaking to Transport for the North, West Yorkshire Combined Authority and government Ministers. This will continue and we will hopefully win the argument.

“TfN, Chris Grayling and others have all acknowledged that Bradford is poorly served by the existing rail network – we just need to convince them of the wider economic benefits that NPR will bring to the North, and not just the city.”

The Department for Transport says it is “fully supportive” of the NPR proposals.

We are doing all we can to build the strongest possible business case. Mike Cartwright, of West and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce.