Strategic Transport Plan to transform North’s economy

Transport for the North (TfN) has released its Strategic Transport Plan to transform the North’s economy through investment in the region’s transport infrastructure.

The Strategic Transport Plan has the potential to create nearly a million new jobs and contribute almost £100 billion to the UK’s economy.

The documents identify nine strategic development corridors that reflect the economic links across the North, including Northern Powerhouse Rail, Integrated and Smart Travel and seven geographic connectivity priorities.

David Brown, TfN’s CEO, said: “TfN has a clear mission to transform the North’s economy by intelligently developing our transport infrastructure. The publication of this evidence is a pre-cursor to our multi-modal Strategic Transport Plan, which will be published for consultation later this year. The work presents a compelling case for change, underlining the economic and strategic benefits of improving freight and passenger transport across the whole of the North to drive economic growth.

“We want to enable the North to make a more significant contribution to the UK economy, through higher productivity, while also increasing job opportunities. This will require the delivery of a sustained and aspirational investment programme across the North to build infrastructure, strengthen skills, harness innovation and encourage smart and innovative technology.”

Bridget Fox from Campaign for Better Transport, authors of one of the reports, said: “Our report identified a number of key challenges and opportunities including concerns about climate change, pollution and the landscape; the desire for more sustainable transport, rather than building new roads; and a desire to see improved local services to connect people to jobs.

“These combine to offer an exciting vision of what the Strategic Transport Plan could look like and the challenge now for Transport for the North is to ensure that these community and environmental concerns are addressed in the final plan. We are extremely pleased to have been able to work with Transport for the North in this way and will want to see that the emerging Strategic Transport Plan meets these challenges."

All documents comprising the Strategic Transport Plan evidence base can be found on TfN’s website - http://www.transportforthenorth.com/strategic-transport-plan-evidence/