黑洞社区

The government鈥檚 four-month delay in making public its long-term plan for railway development across England is now 鈥渨orrying鈥�, a ministerial advisor has admitted.

Maria Machancoses, chief executive of Midlands rail advisory body Midlands Connect, said the failure to publish the Integrated Rail Plan (IRP) for the North and Midlands was 鈥渓eaving half the country in limbo鈥�.

The government had promised to publish the plan, which was announced last November, by February this year.

Regional leaders have raised fears that the Treasury is looking to downgrade spending on railway links following the huge impact of covid-19 on the public finances.

The document is expected to confirm whether HS2鈥檚 eastern leg from Birmingham to Leeds, which was not included in the  Queen鈥檚 Speech, will go ahead. It will also outline details on other rail upgrade projects, including East-West links in the Midlands and the Northern Powerhouse Rail link between Manchester and Leeds.

Machancoses said that there were now 鈥渄efinitely concerns鈥� among business leaders in the region that the plan had still not been published. She added: 鈥淲e had a vision, we all understood it, we planned around it, now tell us you鈥檙e going to do it, and commit to a timeframe because otherwise you leave half the country in limbo.

鈥淭he East Midlands is one of the least invested-in regions for transport and infrastructure for decades so for them to be told 鈥榶ou鈥檙e going to have to wait longer鈥� or 鈥榶ou鈥檙e not going to get what you thought you would be getting鈥� is pretty important. It鈥檚 pretty worrying too.鈥�

Machancoses said that economic plans in the region were at stake, adding: 鈥淲e need to stop this dither and delay, because actually that鈥檚 what makes the project go higher in cost. The best thing the government can do is commit, so we know what it is, and contracts can be issued, and we know how much it is.鈥�

Earlier this month, Manchester mayor Andy Burnham said he was concerned that the rail plan would be downgraded and warned the government to take its 鈥渓evelling up鈥� agenda seriously.

Machancoses said that the Department for Transport 鈥渦nderstands this anxiety鈥� and speculated that the plan had been delayed because Chancellor Rishi Sunak wanted spending on railways to link into a wider funding envelope which takes the impact of covid-19 into account.

But she said that while there is an understanding among regional leaders that there might need to be 鈥渟ome sort of compromise on timescale鈥�, the certainty the plan would provide was vital for stimulating an economic recovery from the pandemic.

鈥淎t a time when the country is trying to find out the best way to revive the economy after the biggest crisis we鈥檝e had for decades, what the Midlands and the North needs more than anything is certainty, a plan of action.鈥�

Government documents leaked to the Yorkshire Post this week suggested that officials were considering scrapping plans for a new high-speed link between Manchester and Leeds via Bradford in favour of upgrades to the existing line through Huddersfield.

And the Huffington Post reported yesterday that sources close to the discussions had said that the Treasury was attempting to delay the IRP until the autumn spending review.

Transport for the North interim chief executive Tim Wood told 黑洞社区 that losing HS2鈥檚 eastern leg would mean 鈥済oing back to the drawing board鈥� for connecting northern cities.

He added: 鈥淚nstead of levelling up the North it would leave it lopsided between the west of the Pennines and the east. We don鈥檛 need either/or, we need both.鈥�

A No 10 spokesman told journalists this week: 鈥淭here have been reports about Northern Powerhouse Rail which are wrong. The Integrated Rail Plan will soon outline exactly how major rail projects, including HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail, will work together to deliver reliable train services that passengers need and deserve.鈥�

Asked when the plan would be published, he said that 鈥渨ork is ongoing鈥�. He later added: 鈥淲e will set out the plan in due course.鈥�