YP Letters: From rhetoric to reality on Northern Powerhouse plan

Transport Secretary Chris Grayling at Leeds Bradford Airport where questions about access go to the heart of the Northern Powerhouse agenda.

THERE are numerous questions regarding the viability of the Northern Powerhouse, the first one being “will it ever come to fruition?”

Those concerned with its creation have yet to find the cohesive bond that will allow all parties to work together. There are many voices aspiring to claim what the Northern Powerhouse will achieve, but none of them possess the wherewithal to make it happen.

We have all these plans for the future, but it is mainly the same rhetoric we have been subjected to for decades.

Figures and numbers are speculated by planners: £70bn to be spent overhauling the transport over the next 30 years, 7m passengers through Leeds Bradford Airport by 2030, £3bn on TransPennine rail upgrades, the list goes on.

The only way Leeds Bradford will achieve those figures is if access to the airport is radically improved.

More especially so if it entails connecting the Wharfedale and Harrogate lines, and the two Bradford stations, as it would effectively facilitate countywide connections to the airport.

Such a scheme would also fuel the Northern Powerhouse by improving local, national and international connections for the travelling public and the business community.