Freight and Logistics is one of Transport for the North’s six initial focus areas (the others are Northern Powerhouse Rail, Strategic Road Network, Smart North, Local Strategic Connectivity, International Connectivity and Freight & Logistics). Darren Kirkman is responsible for overseeing out work on freight and logistics, ensuring that the needs of the freight sector are considered across all our programmes as we develop the Northern Transport Strategy. We caught up with Darren to find out more about his role and the Freight & Logistics Programme.
“Before taking over the Freight programme I was a policy advisor at Merseytravel,” Darren told us, “I’d also worked at TfGM and have been involved with the policy side of various rail schemes, including HS2 and the the development of the Northern Hub. When the One North report was released it contained within it initial proposals for Northern Powerhouse Rail and for improving roads but there wasn’t anything specific about freight. The view was that the road and rail programmes would look at both passenger and freight requirements.”
“However, several of us at Liverpool felt that the needs of freight might be in danger of being overlooked. So it was decided that we needed a specific programme to look at the needs of freight and feed that into the overarching strategy. I was lucky enough to get to lead this.” The freight programme was one of Transport for the North’s first pieces of work to be initiated. “We started work on a freight study in August last year,” Darren told us, “Which is awaiting approval from the TfN Partnership Board.”
We asked Darren how he ensured that the freight study was as robust as possible.
“The study was carried out by Mott McDonald and MDS Transmodal,” he said, “MDS Transmodal is a specialist freight consultancy and they own the Great Britain Freight Model, which is what is used for central government’s freight planning. They’ve done a lot of the modelling work which has informed the strategy.”
“The work has been overseen by a steering group made up from partners from the different local and combined authorities and also informed by a private sector reference group, chaired by Bernard Molloy, Global Logistics Director for Unipart, and with representatives from ports, power stations, transport companies and retailers. It’s been invaluable to have this insight from the private sector because obviously freight is controlled by the private sector. What we’re doing is saying, we want businesses to invest in the North, what can we do to maximise that investment and meet the Northern Powerhouse ambitions?”
Now that the freight study is complete, we asked Darren what was next for the freight workstream.
“The report we’ve produced is quite high level, so the next step is to do some work to look at what those recommendations look like on the ground. We’ll be carrying out studies in each of the LEP areas in the North, and identifying the schemes that deliver on the report’s recommendations. So, for example, one of our recommendations is improving hinterland access between ports and the strategic road network: what does that look like in Teeside or on the Humber? That piece of work will be used to inform TfN recommendations for forthcoming Road Investment Strategies and Rail Control Periods.”
So is TfN’s freight work just about enabling more lorries to get onto the roads? “No, not at all,” Darren says, “We started off with some forecasts about how freight into and out of the region might increase, and then we looked at ways we might accommodate that. We looked at various rent ‘bundles’ of options, including rail, road and also waterways. We also had an environmental ‘bundle’ looking at how we could minimise risk to the environment.”
“We’ve focused on rail and water-bourne transport solutions (like the Manchester Ship Canal and the Aire and Calder Navigation) whilst also addressing pinch points on the road network. One of the aims is to increase capacity on the rail and water networks so you can shift freight off the roads to cut congestion and environmental impact.”
Finally, we asked Darren what he thought was the best thing about living and working in the North. “Well, I’ve never lived anywhere else!” he first responded, “But in all honesty, it’s that connection that is the best thing. Where I live is where I grew up and I’ve so far had the opportunity to work on some really good schemes that have come to fruition, so you can see the benefit of what you’re doing on the ground. I have that personal investment in the region and I know that the work I’m doing is about improving the lives and futures of the people around me, the community I live in. It certainly helps keep me motivated.”
Look out for further updates on our freight and logistics programme later in the year.