Regeneration chiefs blast Northern transport proposals as unbalanced

Regeneration chiefs on Teesside have blasted the Government’s Transport for the North strategy as unbalanced.

Tees Valley Unlimited (TVU) says the report has failed to acknowledge “either the existence or the economic assets” of Teesside and areas like it.

The Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) for Teesside says that, by only rewarding “core cities”, the Government leaves itself open to attack - and sub-regions need to be included to unlock the north’s full economic potential.

Issues could have been avoided, TVU claims, if it had been allowed representation on the board of the newly-formed Transport for the North organisation - which has never been granted, despite lobbying by the partnership.

Ministers laid out multi-billion pound transport plans last week to “revolutionise transport in the North” and help fire up the Government’s Northern Powerhouse.

Speaking on behalf of the LEP and its public and private sector partners, TVU managing director Stephen Catchpole said: “As stated previously, we are supportive of the strategy to develop the north’s full economic potential by investing in improving its currently sub-standard infrastructure.

“There is a consistent failure to give a balanced picture when proposing solutions to the issues. For example, the major road congestion in the North-east is highlighted on page 23 as being on the A19 yet the solution on page 24 fails to mention that the A19 has been identified for expressway status.

Traffic on the A19 near Billingham

“Despite the detail provided by the operator of Teesport, the Freight Section fails to provide comparable figures ie £500m investment over the next ten years to those supplied for other ports.

“All of these issues could have been resolved by addressing the governance arrangements of Transport for the North, which we in the Tees Valley have campaigned for consistently. In turn, this would have led to great scrutiny/ challenge and positive input, which has been sadly lacking because of a failure to circulate even a draft pre-publication.

“Having said this, we remain positive about the need for investment in the North and stand ready and willing to play a full role in helping achieve such investment to support the realisation of the economic potential of the whole of the North”.

Responding to the criticism, a Department for Transport spokesman said: “It is vital that Transport for the North speaks with one voice for the whole of the North. Governance and membership of the group is a matter for the northern authorities, but it must be practical and inclusive.

“We welcome Tees Valley’s willingness to work with us. It is crucial everyone works together to deliver a world-class, integrated transport network for the North. The Northern Transport Strategy makes clear that governance of the group should be reviewed later this year.”