A high speed snub
Jun 19 2007 William Green Political Editor, The Journal
A report snubbing the North-East over a high-speed rail link was fiercely criticised yesterday.
And the controversy intensified after it emerged that a transport consultant - a director of the company behind the study - has also acted as an adviser to the Northern Way, a project designed to invigorate the region.
North-East business chiefs last night warned that missing out on a new North-South connection would set the region's progress back a generation after the report called on ministers first to press ahead with an £11bn link between London, Birmingham and the North-West - which could take more than 15 years to become operational.
It would also provide an extension to the Channel Tunnel Rail Link and include a link to Heathrow Airport as well as connections to Liverpool, Manchester and north Wales before going on to Edinburgh and Glasgow.
North-East MPs rounded on the report after it emerged that a boss at the company behind the study was also a transport consultant advising bosses at the Northern Way - established to help boost the entire North's prosperity.
Jim Steer is a director of Steer, Davies, Gleave (SDG) and has advised the Northern Way on transport since February 2006.
He is also a director of the not-for-profit Greengauge 21 organisation that wrote the report backing development of the North-West route now as offering the best business case before an eventual eastern link.
But Ross Smith, from the North-East Chamber of Commerce, said: "We are already a generation behind much of the world in developing a rail system of this kind. To take that amount of time to extend to the UK is unacceptable and to take a further generation to extend it to the North-East would be disastrous for the regional economy."
The Association of North-East Councils (ANEC) said sidelining the region would be hugely damaging. Sharon Hodgson, MP for Gateshead East and Washington West, said she was concerned that somebody supposed to be independently looking at high-speed rail had a leaning to the north-west.
The Northern Way welcomed the Greengauge 21 report as a contribution to the debate but stressed any high-speed network must contribute to the North's overall growth.
"We have already said that any national high-speed network should include a trans-Pennine link that connects the North-East to Manchester, in addition to links to London and Heathrow," a spokesman said.
He said Mr Steer had an international reputation and the Northern Way was "well aware" of his many interests in carrying out his work, including his Greengauge 21 role. He said SDG was undertaking research on improving rail freight links from Teesport as well as North-South connections - including the economic benefits of high-speed services.
"This work on North-South Links will be completed and made available in the near future. It will consider the case for increases in rail capacity on both the East and West Coast lines," added the spokesman.
Mr Steer said Greengauge 21 was a not-for profit organisation set up to promote a debate on high-speed rail and set out the case for it, adding: "We have no commercial interest in the matter."
He also stressed the organisation's report advocated creating two high-speed lines to the North-West and North-East - with the first being "progressed next" because it provided the best business case.
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Consultant has international profile
Chartered engineer Jim Steer is a non-executive director of consultancy Steer, Davies, Gleave and has led a team advising the Northern Way on transport since February 2006.
The company was founded by Mr Steer in 1978 and has undertaken work on high-speed rail, the Northern Way's overall transport strategy and its submission to the Government's comprehensive spending review, which will set priorities for the coming years. He was managing director of SDG until March 2002, before heading to the now-defunct Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) as one of three managing directors with responsibility for strategic planning.
His secondment to the SRA ended in July 2005, and he rejoined SDG where he has taken a personal interest in the development of high-speed rail lines which he sees as an essential component of sustainable integrated transport.
According to his company's website, Mr Steer is also one of the country's leading authorities on transport with 35 years of consultancy experience on major projects in Britain, Europe, the Far East and Australasia.
His responsibilities as a director are to provide a forward and strategic view on the development of the company.
Mr Steer is also a director of the not-for-profit Greengauge 21 organisation which wrote the report backing development of the North-West route.
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Second round of criticism
The latest controversy to hit the Northern Way follows criticism of the organisation last year from trade union leaders.
TUC regional secretaries from across the North of England said the transport policies of the organisation - created by John Prescott to close the North-South divide - were too focused on Manchester and Leeds.
At the time, regional secretary Kevin Rowan said: "There's a real concern that all the Northern Way has done on transport is focus on Leeds and Manchester.
"There seems to be a feeling that if we get that right, there will be a trickle-down economic effect across the whole of the North. I think that's a completely flawed analysis."
The Northern Way has suffered a loss of credibility after being created in autumn 2004 by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, although new director Andrew Lewis has promised it will become a major influence on wider funding sources to boost the North.
