The man heading an independent review into improving transport connections across the 海角视频 said he doesn’t recognise claims of significant underfunding in rail in Wales, but said a promised revaluation of how business cases for projects are evaluated by the Treasury could lead to far more investment.
Sir Peter Hendry has been tasked by the Prime Minister to look at how to improve transport connectivity across the nations of the union.
Giving evidence to a Welsh Select Committee investigation into rail investment Sir Peter was asked about the level of funding Wales has received. Swansea West Labour MP Geraint Davies said that over the few decades Wales has received less than 2% of 海角视频 Government funded rail enhancement investment, despite having 5% of the 海角视频 population, and 11% of its rail track.
Sir Peter said he was not convinced by the origins of the numbers.
“If you divide investment by track miles you get a very peculiar number,” Sir Peter said.
He cited the Heart of Wales line saying it is a very long piece of railway but only has five trains a day, adding’ “they’re short, and don’t have many people on them.”
Sir Peter said his Union Connectivity Review will be looking at levelling the economies across the 海角视频 using methods that are more than just a business case but also whether connectivity will drive general economic growth in the future.
He said that in his final report he’ll be making the point that if you looked at investments on a wider economic basis, they will be more likely to get off the investment.
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“If it’s believed that the connectivity will drive general economic growth, then actually looking into the future and using a better appraisal methodology to appraise people’s desired investment is very likely to produce more investment than has traditionally has been the case,” Sir peter said.
These new methods, Sir Peter said, will benefit more of the 海角视频 and assist in the levelling up and referencing the Chancellor’s recent comments on reviewing the Green Book and the appraisal methodology that has been used to determine rail investment.
Sir Peter said: “This is really important because actually one of the reasons that transport investment has been largely concentrated in large conurbations in London and southeast England, is that if look at transport appraisal solely in the light of business cases, transporting lots of people earning quite a lot of money produces you a better business case and producing connectivity than in more sparsely populated parts of the country.
“I think it’s really important and you will find that the interim report says a bit about that. But my final report will have quite a lot to say about it because if you want to see investment in the levelling up agenda and in parts of Britain, like parts of Wales that that need economic stimulus, then you have to justify those budgets are the wider economic basis and not just on a narrow relatively short term BCR (benfit cost ratio) basis.”
Ken Skates, the Minister for Economy, Transport and North Wales, told the committee that Wales is set to lose out on more than £2bn of investement over the next deacade, which will be exacerbated by the around £100bn that will go into HS2, which is an England rail project.
Mr Skates said: “When you consider all of the investment that’s going to be made in rail and restructure in England between 2001 and 2029, we calculated that the under investment in Wales amounts to about £2.4bn,” he said.
“This is directly related to the mentality, I believe, of Treasury and the lack of the ability of DfT alone to make decisions on rail infrastructure. And the lack of devolution, ultimately, is what determines or what has determined our lack of investment in Wales.
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“Obviously we have the position of wishing to see the devolution of rail infrastructure and settlement to Wales so that we can utilise those systems that we already have Wales transport strategy, the Well Being of Future Generations Act, to make decisions in a different way that wouldn’t concentrate rail infrastructure spend in the most urbanised areas and we would be able to distribute investment more fairly across Wales.”
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On HS2 Mr Skates says while there will be benefits to north Wales, overall it will damage Wales, in particular south Wales by bringing cities in the Midlands and the north of England closer to London.
“The net impact on the economy of Wales will be negative and quite considerably,” Mr Skates said.
“This is because it will leave south Wales at a disadvantage. And indeed, if we are to see the true benefits of HS2 realised for north Wales we’re going to have to see electrification of mainline and electrification between Crewe and Chester.
“That’s what will really deliver the step change in improvements in north Wales. So there’s a compelling case to invest more in south Wales and in north Wales, alongside what is being undertaken on HS2.”
Sir Peter said that while there is unlikely to be any further high speed rail networks after HS2 he wants to see north Wales benefit.
“I think one of the things I will probably be saying is HS2 has to benefit north Wales as much as it seeks to benefit Birmingham and Merseyside,” he said.