Northern leaders are pushing the Government to invest in the region鈥檚 infrastructure to make good on its 鈥榣evelling up鈥 agenda.
Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham used the opening of the Transport for the North annual conference to call for urgent delivery of better transport services
Mr Burnham was speaking after Transport Minister Andy Stephenson had defended the Government鈥檚 record on transport spending for the North, which has come under fire for lagging behind levels of investment in London and the South East for many years.
Bus and train passenger numbers have plunged in the region during the coronavirus pandemic, but business and political leaders are pushing Ministers to ensure that promised spending in the North is not lost as a result of the financial pressures facing the Government.
Mr Burnham said: 鈥淲e need to get into the bread-and-butter issues of travelling around the great city regions of the North because, let鈥檚 be honest, they鈥檙e nowhere near where we need to be.
鈥淲e also have to reflect on the fact that this year has set us back somewhat given that Transport Focus found recently that there is an issue now of people having the confidence to use public transport. We have to build back that confidence in the New Year.
鈥淪o what I鈥檇 say to the Government is: let鈥檚 make 鈥榣evelling up鈥 really mean something to people on the ground, let鈥檚 get delivery happening in a small number of years rather than promising things that are 10 or 20 or 30 years away.鈥
Mr Burnham was backed by Sarah Longlands, director of the ippr North think tank, who said: 鈥淭he first stage is on levelling up on investment itself, because if we are going to recover from this pandemic we鈥檒l need to build back confidence in the transport network.
鈥淭hat will require putting investment into the network itself. We know from our investment that the gaps in investment have widened between the North and other regions over the last 10 years.鈥
And Transport for the North chair John Cridland said: 鈥淧eople will continue travelling, they鈥檒l just travel in different ways.
鈥淧erhaps we鈥檒l see a pattern of smarter travel, so ensuring that finance continues to be available to make that travel possible is of vital importance.鈥
Earlier, Mr Stephenson 鈥 who is MP for Pendle in Lancashire, as well as a Transport Minister 鈥 had listed a number of projects which he said showed the Government鈥檚 commitment to improving the region鈥檚 transport infrastructure.
He said: 鈥淐ovid鈥檚 reminded us how important it is that we generate jobs and economic growth in the places that need them most. Therefore it has only strengthened the Government鈥檚 resolve to power up the economy and speed up the delivery of the Northern Powerhouse.
鈥淚鈥檓 proud of what we have achieved so far. 拢3.4bn of investment through Northern growth deals, almost half of the 海角视频 towns to benefit from the 拢3.6bn Towns Fund are in the North, and in the recent Spending Review, the Chancellor announed a 拢4bn Levelling Up fund to invest in new infrastructure projects.鈥
