North’s new transport threat could send Powerhouse into reverse – The Yorkshire Post says

Yet it is also fundamental, if Britain’s carbon emissions are to fall to zero, that both public transport – and the needs of cyclists – are taken into account at the outset of the planning process rather than being left to chance.

This is even more important as the number of trains in service is scaled back significantly due to the Covid lockdown and resulting fall in passenger numbers – it is to be hoped that this does not unduly inconvenience key workers, like NHS staff, and that this is only temporary. Assurances from the Government are needed.

But even more alarming is the 40 per cent budget cut being imposed on Transport for the North’s annual costs – the body effectively tasked with overhauling the region’s creaking infrastructure and ensuring that the much vaunted Northern Powerhouse policy agenda has some solid policy foundations.

And while Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has certainly become increasingly frustrated by TfN’s effectiveness, and a record that is certainly open to question, he has also accepted, on many occasions, that improvements to local services are as important as HS2.

It’s all the more reason, therefore, that the Government sets out its ‘levelling up’ strategy in full and then tasks a specific department with its implementation. If not, the North risks going into reverse.

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