HS3 airport links plan can help the North soar

HS3 airport links plan can help the North soar - The Yorkshire Post says

Politicians have long spoken of the need to rebalance the nation’s economy to make it less focused and reliant on London, particularly in the wake of the Brexit vote three years ago, which exposed the country’s regional inequalities among many other things. But all-too-often, such soundbites have been followed by little in the way of concrete action.

Better rail and road connections to northern airports like Leeds Bradford could help the region's economy.

There is now an opportunity for the Government to change that as Northern business and civic leaders join together to put forward a road-map to transform the region’s transport links in a way capable of taking pressure away from the South East and London, where the idea of a third runway for Heathrow is proving bitterly divisive.

The idea is a simple one; putting Northern airports at the heart of the economy and ensuring they are effectively connected to the our major cities through the implementation of Northern Powerhouse Rail - otherwise known as HS3.

Doing so, the argument goes, would attract international investment and better links to vital growing economies around the globe, allowing the North to establish world-leading work in fields such as advanced manufacturing, technology, energy and life sciences and generating hundreds of millions of pounds each year for the region’s economy.

With Doncaster Sheffield Airport, Leeds Bradford Airport and Manchester Airport all pursuing ambitious expansion projects and the Northern Powerhouse reported to be outperforming London economically for much of the past three years, the potential is already clear.

As Susan Hinchcliffe, chair of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority and leader of Bradford Council, states, linking airports with improved rail and road links “is the missing piece of the Northern Powerhouse jigsaw”.

It is time for the Government to let the North fly.