In this exclusive Insights piece, Transport for the North’s chairman John Cridland looks at how transport can help us level up the North.
The message I’ve been repeating since becoming the chairman of Transport for the North has been consistent – the need for investment in transport as a means to an economic end.
We have seen new governments, new board members, and new agendas, and of course we now face the huge challenge of defeating Covid-19. But we have always been steadfast in developing the case for sustainable Northern transport investment.
We started off with an understanding of how we can better connect the North economically as part of the Northern Powerhouse agenda but, as time has moved on, we have developed a much greater grasp of how the pieces fit together. We better recognise the vast rewards for us as Northerners and our country if we seize the opportunity that has presented itself – Northern Powerhouse Rail alone will would bring more than 10 million people within 90 minutes of multiple key cities in the North, against just two million today.
In the past few years, we have advanced the case for Northern Powerhouse Rail, set out a long-term transport strategy, and continuously pushed the case for improved transport – from our statutory advice on the Trans-Pennine Route Upgrade to working with all of our Northern leaders help to pull us out of the timetable crisis we found ourselves in in 2018 – itself in part due to the underinvestment we are working so hard to amend.
However, as important as having an excellent strategy and dealing with crises is, fundamentally we need to see improvements happening now for the long-term, otherwise we will always look back at what might have been.
Transport for the North doesn’t hold any levers of delivery, but we can articulate what the North needs with one voice. With that in mind, we have put forward an Economic Recovery Plan for the North on the back of Covid-19.
Full investment in this plan would see up to £3 in direct economic benefits for every £1 invested, and the creation of 20,000 jobs to support the construction and design of key projects.
Furthermore, there would be pipeline benefits of £590 million – £630 million, safeguarding hundreds of high-skilled jobs today in the development of schemes.
These schemes, alongside Northern Powerhouse Rail, will help to promote better East-West, and West-East, links across the Pennines.
They will strengthen supply chains and improve access to labour markets, but most importantly, it will help to improve people’s lives.
To answer the question, therefore, we are under no illusion that transport is the only answer, but it is very much a big part of levelling up the North.
It will help people to access opportunities across our region, but we also need to see people equipped to take these opportunities, so education and health, for example, will all play a vital role if we are to see the North we want to see.