Budget “Asks” from Transport for the North

Thursday 5th March 2020

Ahead of Chancellor’s maiden budget announcement, Transport for the North Chief Executive Barry White has written to Rishi Sunak with a set of key “Asks” that will help deliver transformational improvements across the region. Here’s the full letter which outlines our position on how investment will level up economic opportunities and connectivity in the north.

Transport for the North
2nd Floor, 4 Piccadilly Place
Manchester
M1 3BN

Rt Hon Rishi Sunak MP
Chancellor of the Exchequer
11 Downing Street
Westminster
London
SW1A 2AA

Dear Chancellor,

Budget “Asks” from Transport for the North

I would like to congratulate you on your appointment as Chancellor of the Exchequer; we look forward to working with you in the coming years to deliver the transformational improvements we need to see across our region.

The Prime Minister visited us last summer, and we were delighted to see him say that Transport for the North (TfN): “are making a very, very good case here for £39 billion investment” in Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR). This will not only transform the connectivity between the major cities of the North, but will also bring significant benefits to places like Darlington and the Tees Valley. We would welcome commitment to the full NPR network in the forthcoming National Infrastructure Strategy.

It is in this context we welcome the Government’s commitment to overhauling the ‘Green Book’ approach to appraisal, which we believe is critical to enabling the “levelling up” of the North. TfN’s work to date has helped demonstrate that alternative approaches are viable, and we would like to work directly with your team on a joint-review that focuses specifically on the North, and which brings forward proposals to yourself ahead of the Spending Review later this year for to amend the current process and create a specific ‘Northern formula’ with the aim of address the structural disadvantages for the North in the current system.

Over the past year we have been working on building a cross party consensus on the future of devolution in the North of England, which has seen us call for a single devolved transport budget – what we refer to as a “Northern Budget”.

As the representative for a northern seat, we hope you will appreciate that the “asks” that we have set out below are the minimum requirements needed to overturn the underinvestment by central government stretching back decades.

ASK 1: Commitment to build the £39bn Northern Powerhouse Rail network by 2040

Transport for the North is calling for the North to receive the investment it needs to transform itself through the rollout of transport projects like the £39bn NPR network. This will:

• Create a network that stretches from Liverpool to Hull and up to Newcastle.
• Bring 1.5 million people within an hour of four or more northern cities, compared to just 50,000 people today, transforming the jobs market for both businesses and individuals.
• Mean an additional £2bn a year, or 1% of GDP, flowing into northern infrastructure, so people in the North will see on average an additional £50 per head extra spent on transport alone.

ASK 2: Commitment for a £7bn Northern Infrastructure Pipeline in the early 2020s

Transport for the North’s vision to transform and better connect all the communities across the North will be augmented by a £7bn Northern Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP):

• The £7bn NIP is a programme of interventions that will mainly be delivered by Network Rail, Highways England, and Local Transport and Highway Authorities, as well as other stakeholders in the private sector.
• The pipeline includes interventions, which have received approval and some already have confirmed funding. Most importantly they are projects that are ready to be built and they can start to transform the way people travel in the North and unlock economic growth.

ASK 3: Commitment of £1bn for TfN over the next 3 years so it can deliver on this vision

Transport for the North can only truly deliver on the One North vision if the organisation and its programmes are properly funded with £1bn over 3 years by central government:

• This £1 billion would fund Transport for the North programmes such as NPR or Integrated and Smart Travel (IST) over the next 3 years, and allow ongoing Transport for the North operations to be maintained, which includes its responsibilities in relation to rail operations.
• It will enable Transport for the North to develop road and rail projects to create a future ‘shovel ready’ pipeline.
• The net amount is actually less than £1bn due to Transport for the North’s VAT status. As part of this request we ask that you recognise and address the ongoing challenges generated by Transport for the North’s inability to recover VAT and the additional funding requirement that this generates.

An example of a project in the pipeline, and a key priority identified by our Board, is resolving the issues in the Central Manchester rail corridor that impact on rail journeys across the North of England and beyond. With the right investment we can alleviate serious congestion and delays experienced by thousands of passengers across the North every day.

The government has already made some very significant transport decisions, such as committing to HS2 and bringing in the Operator of Last Resort to replace Northern – both very much welcomed by us and more widely in the North. There is an opportunity to enter a new era where ‘rebalancing’ and ‘levelling up’ are put into action in order to provide significantly enhanced economic opportunities in the north. The measures set out in this letter, changing the appraisal approach and a Northern Budget, would form a cornerstone of realising that ambition.

We would welcome the opportunity to facilitate a meeting with yourself and our Northern leaders to discuss these and other matters in more detail.

I look forward to working with you to deliver the investment and infrastructure we need, and really Power Up the North with a Northern Budget.

Yours sincerely,

Barry White

Chief Executive