A transport leader is “confident” that both Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) and HS2 will come to fruition - and says the combination of both could help generate “£1,000bn” in just 15 years.
Frank Rogers, chief executive of the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, who also sits on the Transport for the North (TfN) programme board, said that when he met Boris Johnson in September, the Prime Minister gave assurances over the schemes.
Speaking at the MIPIM Property summit in London, Mr Rogers announced that transport authorities from across the region were to launch a Northern Powerhouse Partnership Report as a “balance" to the Oakervee Report into HS2, set to be submitted by the end of the week, examining the case for building the new line.
Speaking about meeting Mr Johnson last month at the Convention for the North in Rotherham, he said: “We are confident [NPR and HS2 will come off]. We have had very strong support from the PM when he was up in [Rotherham]. He gave a strong commitment to NPR.”
HS2 is set to link London, Birmingham and Manchester, while NPR would connect Liverpool with Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield, Newcastle and Hull if it goes ahead.
Speaking about the importance of both schemes, Mr Rogers, who is director general of Merseytravel, added: “NPR is huge for us. It’s the opportunity to get the biggest significant investment in rail the north will have seen in the last 20 years.
“Crossrail One, Two, Thameslink, Heathrow Express, the Jubilee line [in London] - you can name the number of major transport schemes in the south east over the last 20 years, but nothing of significance has happened in the north - that's why the NPR is so vital.
”It’s an opportunity to link cities across the north and the other significant economic centers and ensure that connectivity and capacity and the ability to facilitate mobility for the north is delivered through NPR.
Most Read
“So the combination of HS2 and NPR is a huge scheme.
“It’s such a significant scheme that 19 local transport authorities have got completely behind the strategy put out by TfN.”
Liverpool City Region Business News
Explaining the partnership report, which was released the day after, Mr Rogers said: “The whole of the North has come together to generate a balanced report to Oakervee that demonstrates the criticality of HS2 linked into NPR.”
He added: “The key for me is it’s not something there's disagreement about, it is the whole of the north making a case to the country that it needs NPR and also wants HS2 as well."
The "£1,000bn" figure is set to be included in tomorrow's report, and is the predicted GVA of both HS2 and NPR for between the years 2035 and 2050.
A Liverpool city region official has emphasised the figure is for the whole of the North - and only applies if both HS2 and NPR happen, along with a “wider range of policy interventions”.
Want more business news straight to your inbox?
BusinessLive is your home for business news from around the country - and you can stay in touch with all the latest news through our email alerts.
You can sign up to receive morning news bulletins from every region we cover and to weekly email bulletins covering key economic sectors from manufacturing to technology and enterprise. And we'll send out breaking news alerts for any stories we think you can't miss.
Visit our email preference centre to sign up to all the latest news from BusinessLive.
Don’t miss
Speaking at the MIPIM event entitled 'Future Mobility Insights: Big Infrastructure Projects and Investment Opportunities', Mr Rogers added: “[HS2 is] not seen as a negative of the north, sucking people to london. It’s seen as a project that will de velop and enable the north to grow.
“It's very strongly supported across the whole of the north.”