Government’s pledge to stimulate a ‘Northern Powerhouse’ economy took an important step forward on Monday as city region leaders and agencies met in Leeds to agree priorities for a 15 year transport strategy for the region.

The inaugural meeting of the ‘Transport for the North’ group included representatives from Greater Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Hull and the Humber, Newcastle and Sheffield. They were joined by the Transport Secretary and participants from the Department for Transport, Highways Agency, Network Rail, and HS2 Ltd.

Transport for the North was set up by Government in October and is led by city regions that make up the ‘One North’ group, which last summer published a set of infrastructure delivery priorities it wanted to progress.

These included a new trans Pennine rail line to cut journey times from Manchester to Sheffield and bringing forward construction of High Speed 2 between Leeds and Sheffield. It also called for more smart motorways across the north to increase highway capacity, better links to ports and construction of local tram networks.

Monday’s meeting was chaired by Manchester City Council leader Sir Richard Leese. “Economic growth doesn’t happen by accident, it happens by design and having the right integrated infrastructure in place is vital for us to generate that growth,” he said.

“Transport for the North is now charged with drawing up a bold delivery programme to make that vision real in the next 15 years.” The group will now produce an interim report for publication in March.

Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin added: “It is crucial we work together to deliver a world-class, integrated transport network for the north that reduces journey times, increases capacity and connectivity and enables growth.”

“We have already made great strides and the creation of Transport for the North is an excellent next step. I want Transport for the North to speak with one voice to government on the big decisions to benefit the region as a whole.”

(Photo: Transport for Greater Manchester)

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