North East could miss out again in Government’s 10 year transport plan

Sep 26 2009 by Adrian Pearson, The Journal

CONCERN is growing that a national transport plan governing a decade of investment will see the North East short-changed.

Efforts to force a Government U-turn are to be renewed amid warnings from one North East transport group that ports, roads and airports across the region will lose out if ministers do not change their mind.

Members of Tyne and Wear’s Integrated Transport Authority are to write to the Government to complain that its latest 10-year development plan appears to have downgraded the region’s essential infrastructure.

Millions of pounds in vital investment could be missed after the Delivering a Sustainable Transport System plan ignored concerns and listed Newcastle International Airport and the Port of Tyne as regional priorities and not of national importance.

Roads and railways in the North East were also missing from the plans, which set out the future of transport funding.

Newcastle Council chief executive Barry Rowland, clerk to the authority, has told members that they must act now to prevent civil servants damaging the North East’s economy.

“Funding will follow the national priorities so it is very important indeed that we understand what the implications are,” he said.

The committee was warned that losing a place on what is effectively a Government spending list will have a double blow, as officers believe a £480m regional funding pot agreed earlier this year will be drastically cut when ministers begin to slash public spending in the face of a massive rise in public borrowing.