Better transport links are key if Lancashire is to drive up productivity

It is widely acknowledged that better transport links are vital if Lancashire and the wider North is to drive up productivity and transform its economic performance.

The challenge is there for all to see – witnessed by frustrated commuters and businesses in the county on a daily basis.

Transport for the North (TfN) statistics show just 27 per cent of the region’s population can access 500,000 jobs in under an hour by rail -
significantly less than other parts of the UK.

Unveiling its new Strategic Transport Plan earlier this year, the statutory body warned: “Poor road and rail connectivity is holding back the North, often acting as a binding constraint on growth, and exacerbated by the current deficient performance of our rail network.”

Katie Day, strategy director and TfN’s deputy chief executive, says its latest strategic plan, outlining priorities up to 2050, presents “a clear vision” for transforming the North’s transport network and spells out the prizes successful delivery would bring.

TfN has a range of statutory powers including becoming a partner in road and rail investment decisions and the overseeing, with the Department for Transport, of franchised rail services covering Northern and TransPennine Express.

Katie, who lives on the Fylde coast, has more than 20 years’ experience working in public bodies and central government, including the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) where she was head of operations for the Regional Growth Fund.

A key speaker at Lancashire Business View’s Built Environment conference, she says: “Our strategic plan is about the bigger picture and also the removal of barriers to opportunity.

“Better transport connections help our economy and society – whether it is opening up commercial opportunities, helping people access education, training and healthcare, or visiting leisure and cultural facilities.”

She adds that the rail network in the North needs major investment to address its current performance and lack of capacity, both of which are holding back sustainable economic growth and productivity.

Katie says: “East-West rail links are crucial to journeys across the North. Equally, if we want to get more freight onto our rail network, which is the ambition of our strategic plan, then we need greater capacity on key corridors, such as the West Coast.

“An effective, efficient and integrated transport system is fundamental to our lives every day. It connects people and places to jobs and services.

“To realise the untapped economic potential of our region, we need to better connect our towns cities, rural and coastal locations – and that
means investment in infrastructure.”

Improvement is much needed but there have been recent setbacks.

The decision to axe the northern legs of the HS2 high-speed rail project, made by the last government, was widely condemned by business and political leaders across the North.

In Lancashire there was widespread belief that the new line would have a positive impact on its economic prospects, with reports productivity
gains from the impact of HS2 services to the area could help provide an extra £600m for the county.

However, a private sector consortium has now backed new plans for a new rail link to be built between Birmingham and the North West to
replace that cancelled HS2 leg.

Unveiled by the metro mayors of Greater Manchester and West Midlands, they say the 80km route proposed would deliver 85 per
cent of the benefits of delivering HS2 in full, but reduce costs by 25-40 per cent through construction of a lower-speed route.

The link would also save in costs from the HS2 cancellation by reusing some of the design work, as well as land already purchased for
the scrapped high-speed line.

Financing for the scheme would be delivered using similar private sector-led models that have delivered expansions to high-speed rail infrastructure in France and Japan.

Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham said the aim is to put an end to “treating people in the North like second class citizens” when it
comes to transport.

Meanwhile, work is also underway to prevent a transformational Lancashire rail project being shunted into the sidings.

The new Pendle and Clitheroe MP Jonathan Hinder used his maiden speech in Parliament to renew the call for the restoration of the Colne to Skipton rail link.

The 12-mile route, connecting Lancashire with North Yorkshire, last ran in 1970.

If reopened, it could lead to fast train services between east Lancashire, Bradford and Leeds, opening up a host of economic benefits.

In a damning speech, Mr Hinder told MPs the Clitheroe to Manchester train takes an hour and 20 minutes to travel 30 miles, with the Colne to Preston service taking an hour and 15 minutes to complete its 25-mile journey.

The MP said: “Both offer one diesel train per hour, and they are totally unreliable,” and he added: “Regional inequality in our country is stark, and we need serious investment in infrastructure, such as reinstating the short rail link between Colne in Lancashire and Skipton in Yorkshire, if we are to see small towns in the north of England thrive and prosper.”

While that campaign goes on, there is concern that a long-hoped for re-opening of the Poulton-to-Fleetwood railway line will not happen, following the government’s axing of the Restoring Your Railway Fund (RYRF).

There have been other recent transport blows for the county.

Plans to extend the Merseyrail network to Skelmersdale were rejected by the Department of Transport back in 2022.

And on the road network, the prospect of a M65 extension, opening up east Lancashire to the major Yorkshire conurbations, with all its economic benefits, looks a distant hope.

Katie Day says: “Our strategic plan sets out how transport can enable economic growth and open up opportunities to reduce inequality and get us on the net zero journey. That also means not seeing transport in isolation.”

She points to the impact that devolution can have on creating that efficient and integrated local system, with Greater Manchester’s
control over its public transport and investment decisions widely heralded as a way forward.

Katie says: “In Greater Manchester they are working to create an integrated transport system.

"Devolution is an opportunity. It can bring investment and local decision making together, which can make a difference to communities.”

There have been recent Lancashire success stories when it comes to improving infrastructure.

The role the new £27m M55 to Heyhouses Link Road will play in growing the Fylde coast’s economy was underlined at a civic event marking its opening this summer.

And the improved link to the coast will also deliver “a welcome boost” to the Blackpool Airport Enterprise Zone and the Fylde coast’s leisure and tourism industry.

Katie says: “This project has shown the power of collaboration. By working together, we can deliver better connectivity for citizens
and businesses to support sustainable and inclusive growth for people and places across the North.”