Supporting a Northern Powerhouse

Following a difficult period during which cross-party support for High Speed Two appeared to wobble and opponents challenged the scheme in the courts, the prospects for HS2 now look better than ever.

“Our ambition is to build a northern powerhouse as a complement to the strength of our capital city, where we bring together our great cities of the North” - Rt Hon. George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer, December 2014

HS2 is increasingly seen as an integral part of the Government’s vision for the cities of the North of England to grow to become a single economic region - a “northern powerhouse”.

At the start of 2014 Sir David Higgins took over as Chairman of HS2 Ltd, the Government-owned company charged with developing and then delivering the new north south high speed railway that will link London, the Midlands and the North of England.

Sir David has been asked by the Secretary of State for Transport to produce ambitious proposals for connecting the cities of the North of England. He was asked to look into how to bring the benefits of high speed rail to the North more quickly, as well as at proposals for faster east-west connections. Since taking the helm Sir David has published two reports setting out his vision for the new railway.

His most recent report was published at the end of October. Rebalancing Britain: From HS2 Towards a National Transport Strategy builds upon many of the ideas discussed in his earlier report HS2 Plus (April 2014). Key themes include:

• A focus on capacity constraints in the South and poor connectivity in North, which are perceived to exacerbate imbalances within the UK’s economy; and
• Recognition that HS2 is not an end in itself, rather a “catalyst for a much bigger process of change…one essential element in a strategy for transforming our transport system and economy”

To support his most recent work, HS2 Ltd commissioned Steer Davies Gleave to consider the transport constraints and opportunities faced by the North of England over the next 25 years. We looked at journeys within the North’s city regions, between city regions and to/from international gateways (airports and ports). However, while this categorisation is a useful one for looking at elements of the North’s road and public transport networks, actual trip-making does not conform to this neat classification so we also considered the North’s networks in the round.

Our work showed that enhancing transport can play an important role in facilitating productivity growth in the North. The north-south connectivity improvements that HS2 will bring will support the economic growth of the North. For the benefits of HS2 to be maximised, it will be important for it to be integrated within a wider transport strategy for the North. Complementary investment will create a symbiotic relationship between national and local networks, increasing the benefits of each as well as maximising their contribution to economic growth.

A copy of our report Transport Constraints and Opportunities in the North of England is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rebalancing-britain-from-hs2-towards-a-national-transport-strategy