The North is home to around 1.1 million businesses, more than 7.7 million jobs, and over 15 million people, with population growth of 6.7%. The North’s economy is around £343 billion, 19% of UK total. If the North were a country, it would be the 27th largest in the world.
However, overall productivity still trails behind the UK average. Our economic value per person (measured as GVA) has been consistently around 15% below the average for the rest of the UK.
Our Strategic Transport Plan (STP) will rebalance decades of underinvestment and transform the lives of people in the North.
It outlines how up to £70 billion of investment to 2050 could contribute towards an additional £100 billion in economic growth.
This marks the first time our civic and business leaders have spoken as one North to outline our vision for the future.
Read more about the Strategic Transport Plan
The Northern Powerhouse Independent Economic Review identified some of the key factors that contribute towards the economic gap between the North and the South, which included poor links and under investment in transport.
The Review set out a bold vision of economic transformation for the North that will rebalance the UK economy and increase international competitiveness. A transformed North in 2050 could generate:
Our work complements that of existing local transport authorities, and our powers are devolved down from central government, rather than up from local government.
Our role is to add value, ensuring that funding and strategic decisions about transport in the North are informed by our local knowledge, expertise and needs.
More about us
Making the case for strategic transport improvements across the whole of the North, they are essential to drive inclusive and sustainable transformational economic growth and rebalance the UK economy.
Ambitious plans to provide rapid, reliable and resilient rail links between our major towns and cities.
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Investment in lines, stations, services and franchises will deliver greater connectivity, capacity and cost effectiveness.
Learn moreThrough the Major Road Network, we have identified the roads across the North that are vital for economic growth and are evaluating how best to strengthen this network and facilitate access to our most important economic places and gateways.
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Bringing a new era of simple and seamless public transport journeys across the North through contactless payments, real time service information, journey planning tools and a simplified pricing structure.
Connected MobilityDelivering transformational, inclusive economic growth will require complementary and supporting investment at a local as well as a pan-Northern level for the ‘whole journey’. This means targeting short trips that could be undertaken by public transport, cycling or walking, thereby reducing localised congestion, improving the environment, and supporting an improved transport system.
Our Decarbonisation Agenda
The Investment Programme which accompanies the Strategic Transport Plan identifies a funding requirement of £60-£70 billion to 2050, or £2-£2.3 billion a year, to be spent on strategic transport infrastructure to deliver the interventions required to support transformational economic growth. Considering current projected spend, primarily through the Highways England Road Investment Strategy and by Network Rail, this equates to an additional £21-£27 billion investment to achieve the improvements set out in the Investment Programme over the lifetime of the Strategic Transport Plan. The interventions within the Investment Programme are ambitious but realistic.
Explore our North
This outlines a pipeline of transport interventions to better connect the whole of the North, with a short, medium and long-term plan for investment.
Setting out the key messages on the case for investment in transport and our work programmes
Northern Powerhouse Rail offers the opportunity to unleash productivity and growth and power up the North’s economic potential. The National Infrastructure Commission (NIC)
Transforming journeys in the North | The case for investment in roads: Transport for the North's pan-Northern bid to the National Roads Fund
The first time the North has come together to outline the robust case for transformational transport investment across all of the North, to rebalance the UK economy
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