Analysis: It's time for Osborne to get 'transformational' (with apologies to the English language)

It’s one of those local government words that sets my teeth on edge, like “framework”, which are largely used as a device to say a lot without saying anything very much at all.

So initially I found myself rolling my eyes at the latest report from Transport for the North (TfN), published yesterday, which featured “transformational” 28 times in a 63 page document.

But the more I read, the more I started to understand why this word has become such a major part of the conversation about the future of the northern economy.

It is a response to a growing concern that the Government’s ‘northern powerhouse’ plan may be more ambitious in rhetorical terms than substance.

When bodies such as TfN use the word “transformational” about the transport projects the North needs, they do it to distinguish them from the routine upgrades the Government would be expected to pursue.

Confronted with suggestions that their transport commitments - which are the key to the ‘northern powerhouse’ becoming a reality - lack ambition, Ministers tend to trot out the Government’s spending plans for road and rail and point to the historic lack of infrastructure spending.

But while this Government can argue with some merit it is investing more than its predecessors, these are in essence remedial works.

As the TfN report makes clear, to truly turn the North into a single integrated economic powerhouse where people can travel quickly and seamlessly from one part to another it will take unprecedented levels of investment likely to include new rail lines, tunnels and roads.

Among the public, the sensible majority understands that this kind of investment cannot be made overnight. Those that glibly assert that ‘China would have this done in a year’ tend to be the same people who would take to the barricades at the suggestion that a new road might be built near their homes.

But in his Budget next week, the Chancellor needs to demonstrate that there is more to the ‘northern powerhouse’ than a bit more spending on roads and rail now combined with endless lists of jam tomorrow projects.

George Osborne could start by setting out a clear plan to fund and deliver transpennine high speed rail and integrate it with HS2 which is already due to reach Yorkshire by 2033.

The prospect of Yorkshire being linked to London, Birmingham and Manchester by high speed rail in the next 15 years would be a clear signal to the private sector that the ‘northern powerhouse’ is real, long term and something around which firms can base their investment plans.

Transformational, you might say.