The Coronavirus crisis has put pressure on every area of society in ways we couldn’t have imagined a year ago.
For so many reasons, the past 12 months have sent shockwaves across our communities, with a focus rightly now on health, social, and economic recovery.
Beyond that, our vision for the long-term investment our North needs will continue.
We are reprioritising elements of our work in order to identify projects within our Investment Programme so they are ready to be brought forward more quickly as part of a post-Covid-19 stimulus package.
And that investment will be crucial to giving confidence to industries and services across the region as restrictions begin to be lifted.
As we look at how to deliver on the so-called ‘build back better’ message, it’s important to look at some of the issues that were impacting businesses before the pandemic.
Any sort of return to normality will once again re-emphasise existing inadequacies in the transport networks.
Here, we highlight several transport pain-points people experienced pre-Covid-19.
Sophia works for Labman Automation, a North Yorkshire based custom laboratory systems business.
The company distributes products and services to industry sectors all over the world, and relies on connected networks to ensure they are accessible to all markets.
Sophie said investment in cross-Pennine routes will bring huge value, as journeys to the west coast take longer than getting to London.
“We need investment so that our connectivity improves and to make sure people can get here quickly and efficiently,” she added.
“It would also help to have a thriving Teesside airport, we have a lot of people coming to use to see out facilities so this would make business coming from abroad much easier.”
Martin from digital agency Kolodo believes investment in public transport is crucial, and a future full of congested roads will make it increasingly difficult to commute from city centres.
He added: “Investment in public transport will make accessibility to visit us, or work for us, more effective and more efficient, especially for new and existing clients who travel from other city centre locations, such as Manchester and London.”
Dunhouse Quarry quarries stone as far south as Manchester and as far north as Northumberland and Dumfries, delivering finished stone nationwide and across Europe.
Ben, who is a director of the Durham-based family business, said the North is an industrial force and would benefit hugely from investment.
He added: “Investment in transport will mean that the business can carry on improving and it will create better routes and paths for us to trade with the rest of the UK more freely and directly, and it could reduce delivery costs for our customers.”
Claire Anwyl from Housebuilder Anwyl Homes, said their teams work across the North, and infrastructure is key to everything.
“Aside from improving commuting times and accessibility for our employees, improved infrastructure helps to elevate the prestige and attractiveness of our developments amongst property purchasers,” she said.
“Our developments are incredible destinations but without a means to reach them, they are nothing.”
Mike volunteers for Shropshire, Staffordshire & Chester Blood Bikes, part of the nationwide Association of Blood Bikes.
His role is to provide a professional rapid response medical transport service to the NHS, free of charge.
He said the life-saving work would be made easier if routes were properly maintained and fit for purpose.
“As motorcyclists we need money spending on the infrastructure as the roads are atrocious, they are very badly pot-holed which poses the obvious risks,” he said.
“The lighting is very bad in rural areas especially as we do a lot of travel at night as we are predominantly out of hours service.”
He believes more affordable and reliable public transport would free up capacity on the road network.
Mike added: “The benefits of improved transport are that we would be much safer on the road and it will enable us to move around the area much more quickly and more efficiently.”