Richard Wightman: Politicians must deliver the goods over transport funding

The political rhetoric will focus on laudable promises for high-speed rail, but this must not become the fig leaf which hides cuts to transport budgets that threaten priority road and rail schemes in Yorkshire and Humber.

Transport infrastructure should be a vital component of the economic growth debate that will dominate the election campaign. Businesses rely on road and rail links to move goods and people. Transport is an essential service for many firms and is crucial to unlocking the huge economic potential of our region's powerhouse cities and the Humber ports. Our region has excellent transport links and we are not alone in suffering congestion. The problem is that we've hardly got enough capacity to meet the current demand and congestion will get worse as our population and prosperity rises, in turn increasing businesses' operating costs and hitting productivity. The region needs a strategic, realistic and properly funded 20-year transport plan to support growth in the economy and give business more certainty.

Long-term plans are a particular challenge in our political system of annual budgets, the three-year spending review and five-year electoral cycles. Despite the impressive personal commitment of Lord Adonis, high-speed rail will need a consistent focus for the next 30 years. In the past three decades, there have been 18 Transport Secretaries.

The plan we advocate needs to be properly funded. The Yorkshire Post has chronicled the poor deal our region has had on transport funding and the problems will be exacerbated as the transport spend itself is hit first and hit hard by cuts. Last month's Budget revealed that 600m has been taken out of transport's capital allocation this year. Twice as much will be spent on debt interest as on transport, and capital expenditure overall is planned to be slashed.

Businesses want to see the deficit cut, but infrastructure investment which generates more in the long term than it costs in the short term is a key priority. Cutting transport budgets today cuts economic growth tomorrow.

Other funding mechanisms will be needed to supplement each taxpayer pound. A new National Infrastructure Bank would win the support of business, and we have an open mind about road tolls if revenue raised directly funds extra capacity, as it does with the M6 toll. So what would the plan say?

The immediate priority is to deliver the vital schemes that have been provisionally funded but remain at the mercy of future cuts. These include the Leeds trolley-bus, a link road to Robin Hood Airport, improved road links to the Humber ports and a 560m package of measures for the East Coast Main Line.

The Government's recent confirmation of its commitment to the schemes was a positive step, but until these schemes are completed, businesses will be sceptical that the projects will not fall victim to cuts further down the line. Our region's politicians should draw a red line around these schemes. A new high quality operator for east coast rail services is a must, and already-expensive fares should be held down. In the medium term, the plan has to resolve the capacity bottlenecks on the M1, M62, Midland Main Line and East Coast Main Line. Spending millions on hard shoulder-running on motorways is a sticking plaster on a gaping wound. It would be better to wait for proper widening of the most congested stretches and to boost public transport capacity with extra rail carriages into Leeds to relieve some of the immediate pressure.

On the railways, the priority should be making the lines we already have work properly. Improvements should include electrification of the Midland Main Line and the Trans-Pennine Line. Speed and capacity improvements in this key trade corridor through to Hull, and particularly links between the Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield city-regions would benefit business and support employment growth across the whole region. For a relatively small investment, travel times could be reduced from Leeds to Manchester from 55 to 45 minutes, making the choice between rail and motorway far easier.

In the longer term, the region must lobby hard to secure its place on the high-speed rail map for the future. The Government's proposed Y-shaped line stopping at Sheffield and Leeds is more attractive than plans to make Yorkshire a spur from Manchester.

The fact is that transport infrastructure should be a central feature of the debate about future economic growth. Transport spending accounts for a fraction of public spending. Cutting it would not come close to solving the problems of the public finances – but it would put the prospects of economic growth in Yorkshire and Humber at risk. It is a risk the country must not take.

Richard Wightman is president of Yorkshire and Humber Chambers of Commerce