[Comment in the Yorkshire Post, 20th July 2020]<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reports that Grant Shapps wants a Northern Transport Acceleration Council to oversee rail improvements \u2013 and, specifically, the key trans-Pennine link between Leeds and Manchester \u2013 reflect the Transport Secretary\u2019s \u2018can do\u2019 approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A year to the week since he was tasked with replacing Chris\nGrayling and reversing decades of under-investment by successive governments,\nMr Shapps stripped Northern of its franchise, and put TransPennine Express on\nnotice, before Covid-19 intervened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yet the fact that the Minister is considering yet another\nquango suggests that he, like so many here, is frustrated with the rate of\nprogress and sympathetic to all those who want the Northern Powerhouse agenda\naccelerated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the record, it is nearly 10 years since the Government\nconfirmed an intention to improve trans-Pennine rail links. It is over five\nyears since plans to electrify the Leeds to Manchester line were included in\nthe Tory party\u2019s 2015 manifesto. And it is two years since the summer of discontent\non the region\u2019s railways prompted The Yorkshire Post to spearhead an\nunprecedented joint collaboration with rival newspapers to demand the overhaul\nof services and infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yet, while there has been some improvements, and national\nrecognition about the plight of rail services here, change is still painfully\nslow and is not helped by Transport for the North being denied powers, pounds\nand pence, a state of affairs which explains, in part, its own ineffectiveness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As such, the latest plans by Mr Shapps are awaited with\ninterest \u2013 especially if he has the courage to propose relocating the entire\nDepartment for Transport HQ to the North as another signal of intent to show\nthat the Government is serious about transferring Whitehall powers, and people,\nfrom London to the regions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[Comment in the Yorkshire Post, 20th July 2020] Reports that Grant Shapps wants a Northern Transport Acceleration Council to oversee rail improvements \u2013 and, specifically, the key trans-Pennine link between Leeds and Manchester \u2013 reflect the Transport Secretary\u2019s \u2018can do\u2019 … Continue reading