LET'S GET MOVING
Transport matters. Regional business leaders frequently cite transport as a barrier to our growth. Our transport campaign starts here.
Transport matters. Regional business leaders frequently cite transport as a barrier to our growth. In this special report Insider calls for action. Let's start with these ten projects that should make a difference
Business leaders in the region recently cited that road and rail congestion are the single largest impediment to wealth creation.
Look at the images spread across the following pages showing the simple and yet very necessary transport projects that we should demand and support. Now ask yourself some simple questions.
Are you, as a businessman or woman operating in the North West, happy with the status quo, or do you think they are just optimistic pipe dreams offering the region a chance to prosper, but they won't happen. It's not good enough. We jave to think big. While we suffer the trauma that the upheaval to the West Coast Main Line causes, shrug at the dismal entry points to region's cities and put up with the frequent traffic jams and delays that harm our ways in and out of the region, we have the chance to have a better vision.
A recent transport survey by the British Chambers of Commerce found just ten per cent of companies are convinced that the transport system meets their business needs and just two per cent believe that the Government's proposals, announced in the Summer of 2003, will provide an effective solution to the transport problems holding their businesses back. Worse still, the shortcomings of Britain's transport infrastructure are costing UK businesses at least £315 billion a year. The road network is the business transport mode of choice with 84 per cent of companies identifying roads as essential to their businesses, and 99 per cent depending on roads for day-to-day functions. Urgent increases to road capacity are a business priority over and above investment in rail, according to 50 per cent of businesses.
While many local transport issues are designed to help the region catch up with other European and UK regions, the time for thinking grander, bolder and braver is now upon us. Grand projects are the making of an industrial revolution. And over 100 years after the Manchester Ship Canal opened for business, ushering in an era of free trade and prosperity we need to be that ambitious this time around.
In an age of mobility is not enough to make-do with poor service any longer. We have to think big and think grand. That's why it's time for Insider magazine and its readership of key decision-makers to make our voice heard in the campaign for long-overdue improvements right across the region's transport infrastructure.
Some of the pleas may seem parochial. But it is a fact that the improvements to the West Coast main line will benefit the whole North West business community, just as Manchester Airport has proved to be a major transport asset.
As a business magazine, it is important for Insider to provide a voice for you. Time and again it is clear that transport around the region is an issue at the forefront of your concerns.
That concern is already being expressed through several laudable channels such as Manchester and Liverpool Chambers of Commerce own efforts to highlight the issues, plus campaigning from the CBI, the Institute of Directors, the North West Business Leadership Team, the Engineering Employers' Federation, Manchester Airport, and several major businesses to lobby harder on the transport crisis in the region.
But there is so much more we can all be doing to heap the pressure on, not least politically where the region's MPs have so far failed miserably to collectively push the case for investment for a range of transport projects.
For too long landmark projects has meant a Dome in every town - arts centres, visitor attractions, statues and meaningless blobs of glass.
It is time for our transport projects to jump up the agenda. This isn't a plea for money, but for ideas and support. We have been shown creative ways to fund the Manchester Metrolink extensions, the cruise platform in Liverpool and most remarkably with the plans for a bridge across Morecambe Bay. These are all projects you should supportw
MORECAMBE BAY BRIDGE
The kiss that could awake a sleeping giant
The most ambitious transport project in the North West is the plan to build a 12-mile bridge across Morecambe Bay. The most common reaction is - it won't happen. David Brockbank is the man who says it can.
At the end of a 30 mile long cul-de-sac called the A590 lies Barrow in Furness, a remarkable town on the very edge of the North West England. It is home to the technology that builds nuclear submarines, warships and lies close to the centre of the nuclear industry just up the coast in Sellafield. But while the town boomed at the turn of the twentieth century because it was close to coal and iron ore to build ocean going vessels, it has suffered economic blight common to many industrial towns.
But Barrow and West Cumbria have also suffered from poor communications. Now, an ambitious plan by maverick businessman David Brockbank to build a 12 mile bridge across Morecambe Bay, cutting across from a point close to Heysham nuclear power station to Rampside near Barrow, could revolutionise the top left hand corner of the region and bring Barrow an hour closer to the rest of the world.
The idea has captured the imagination of the people of Barrow. At Insider's Economic Forum in the town last year, local businessman Dominic Allonby, chief executive of E-directory, described the bridge as "the kiss that could awake the sleeping giant of Barrow". The 2003 annual general meeting of Furness Enterprise, the business support company for the region, turned into a passionate rally for the bridge.
But what is most remarkable about the plan to build the bridge, making it the largest in the UK, is that it will be self-funding and doesn't require any public money. Brockbank proposes a "hybrid causeway" as a showcase project to develop renewable wind and tidal energy in the bay. Hydro-electric turbines would harvest the ebb and flow of tide while offshore wind turbines will be strung along its length, generating enough energy to save 240 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions daily.
Brockbank is no stranger to off-the-wall ideas that change common perceptions about what is possible. A former member of the Lake District National Park's planning board he has developed a sustainable business park at Staveley Mill in the Lake District, providing 200 jobs in over 30 businesses on the site. He has developed a power supply for Staveley Mill Yard from the neighbouring River Kent and says environmental concerns are paramount to the project: "Morecambe Bay is very environmentally sensitive and we plan to put the environment at the heart of any proposals. Our aim is to ensure we have minimal impact on the environment. We are now ready to undertake the turbine, traffic and environmental research. We are all very excited about the idea and confident of developing a successful project."
Brockbank is the public face of the Bridge Across the Bay company and but the investors - two British, one Dutch and one from Australia - want secrecy. He says aren't prepared to reveal their identity until the concept is proven.
The make-up of the board proves the project is addressing the economic, environmental and energy issue. He is joined by: Michael Hulme, the chief executive of Lancaster research company Teleconomy and a director of the urban regeneration company for West Cumbria, West Lakes Renaissance; Julian Carter the chief executive of Renewables Northwest; by Professor Bill Davies of Lancaster University, a leading environmental scientist; and the chief executive is Hazel Broatch, the former director of policy and performance at Cumbria County Council.
Brockbank initially submitted plans to Lancaster City and Barrow Borough Councils, in April 2003, which he admits he did to see what would need to happen next. The plans were sent back requiring more information. His team is now busy researching a feasibility study in order to reassure the investors the plan is viable.
In another savvy political move the company has also sounded out the biggest employer in the region, BAE Systems, about constructing sections of the bridge at its extensive Barrow facility, similar to work completed on aircraft carriers and landing platforms for warships.
But while much of what he says makes sense, ultimately the decision will lie with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, which has to approve major projects. For that he also needs to stoke up local support and overcome local inertia and a sense of defeatism that good things like this don't happen to the people of West Cumbria. Brockbank acknowledges that the most common reaction to the plans is "great idea, but it won't happen". Indeed, the concept isn't completely new. The idea of building a bridge across Morecambe Bay was first suggested by George Stevenson in 1834. In the 1960s proposals were developed for a barrage in the Bay that would have created a fresh water reservoir but this was not progressed as it was too costly. Then in the late 1980s proposals for a barrage that would create an area mainly for leisure use were unsuccessful due to the environmental concerns. But Brockbank believes passionately that the linkage with the environmental agenda makes it compelling.
"A lot of transport projects in this country are about catching up. This is designed to leapfrog everything. We're approaching this in a completely unique way and we're not asking for a penny of public funding," he says.
WEST COAST MAIN LINE THE grind continues
The last politician who hitched his star to a pledge to make the trains run on time was Benito Mussolini.
If Il Duce's fortunes had been bound up with the West Coast Main Line (WCML), he would no doubt still be standing in an overcrowded rattletrap held up indefinitely in the marshalling yards outside Manchester Piccadilly.
Or worse, stewing on a high-speed tilting train unable to hit its 125 mph top speed due to a lack of tilted track - a Ferrari on a potholed backstreet.
Politicians have learned a thing or two about spin since Musso's days, with Labour playing up the fragmentation of the rail industry following privatisation, and the Tories pointing to chronic under-investment during the British Rail era.
Yet to the weary traveller, the railway blame game has acquired a frustratingly familiar ring.
Built in the1840s, the WCML has become the UK's busiest mixed-traffic railway, responsible for 43 per cent of Britain's UK freight market.
With more than 2,000 train movements each day, more than 75
million rail journeys annually, and no significant investment since the 1960s, it is hardly surprising that the line is in crisis. Putting it right involves 1,660 track miles, 2,800 signals - including 13 major junctions - and 10,000 bridge spans.
Nonetheless, rail bosses insist their plans to haul the WCML into the 21st century are on track.
2003 saw the start of a crucial phase in the modernisation of the WCML - the largest and most complex railway construction project in Europe. This new method of working involves a combination of diversions and alternative travel arrangements to enable engineering operations along key sections of track.
The success of the plan hinges on the Strategic Rail Authority's tactic of replacing traditional working arrangements with targeted long-term engineering operations which, it says, will lead to greater efficiency, a safer working environment, and quicker completion.
This, we are told, means the new class 390 Pendolinos trains will be whizzing along the majority of the route at 125mph by the start of the 2004 winter timetable - if the project runs on time.
CREWE STATION REGIONAL GATEWAY
As the most strategically important rail gateway to the North West, Crewe station should be a pristine portal, impressing visitors with an exhilarating sense of arrival.
Instead, the train traveller's first impression of England's North West is unlikely to be memorable.
Crewe station - one of the most famous railway junctions in Britain - is a soulless, dowdy and anonymous place, reflecting the long-neglected West Coast Main Line which it straddles.
Action is in the pipeline, although whether this is being taken urgently enough is open to question.
"Over the next four years, we intend to install new lighting, resurface the platforms, re-size the canopies, and carry out roof repairs," says a Network Rail spokesperson. "Work is being planned and passengers will definitely see improvements."
Cheshire County Council chief executive Jeremy Taylor insists the problem of Crewe station is high on his agenda.
"The station won't be fixed by a lick of paint," admits Taylor. "However, I am extremely passionate about its strategic importance and have had many extremely helpful discussions with Gwyneth Dunwoody. As the area's long-serving MP and chair of the Commons transport select committee, she is a powerful champion of improvement and will sort things out if anyone can!"
Taylor adds: "We are now working closely with Virgin Trains, the borough council, the Strategic Rail Authority, Network Rail and the North West Development Agency to develop options for improving the station and sorting out the transport problems it causes for Crewe.
"Virgin Trains are planning some improvements to coincide with the launch of the full Pendolino network in September but it will take quite a time to resolve all the issues. It is, however, Cheshire's most important station and we are committed to working with our partners to improving this gateway."
Chris Koral, NWDA manager for Cheshire, adds that the development agency is one hundred per cent behind the upgrading of the station, enabling it to make a positive statement to visitors travelling into the region from the South.
MERSEY CROSSING A BRIDGE TOO FAR
The joyous whooping of disaffected commuters can be heard far and wide whenever mention is made of the Second Mersey Crossing.
The coveted bridge will span the river between Runcorn and Widnes and take around 90 per cent of the 85,000 vehicles which currently use the nearby Silver Jubilee Bridge each day, built with a capacity of 60,000.
The government gave in-principle approval to the £3335m project in December last year and even awarded it the delightful label 'super work in progress'.
Nevertheless, ministers have demanded more preparatory reports be commissioned.
Consultant Gifford has already undertaken preliminary studies and an outline design of the new bridge for the Mersey Crossing Group - a consortium of local authorities led by Halton Borough Council.
The findings were positive on several traffic fronts: increased capacity and therefore reduced congestion and delays, reduced journey times and fuel costs, an alternative route will be available during future planned maintenance on the Silver Jubilee Bridge, provision will be made for future traffic growth.
In terms of public transport the bridge will carry a light rail line underneath the road, improving the reliability of existing routes and opening up opportunities for new routes to be extended south of the river.
The economists like the bridge because it will encourage existing businesses to expand and new businesses to set up, bringing new jobs and generating wealth. There will also be facilities for cyclists and pedestrians to cross the river and link to existing cycling and pedestrian facilities.
Government funding is now being sought for the dual two lane 1km-long crossing and MCG hopes construction could begin in 2005 with a view to opening in 2007/08.
METROLINK LIGHTS, CAMERAS, METROLINK
Manchester is now so popular among filmmakers that the distinctive Metrolink trams have become to the city what red double decker buses are to London.
The hallmark turquoise and white livery is so commonplace on television and in the movies that it's easy to forget that the light railways system has only been up and running for 12 years.
Metrolink - linking Manchester's Victoria and Piccadilly stations to Bury, Altrincham, Salford Quays and Eccles - has revolutionised the way people use public transport in Greater Manchester, with more than 18 million journeys made in the year to March 2003.
Applauded by environmentalists and commuters alike, Metrolink's success lies in drastically reducing the number of car journeys, while carrying twice the number of passengers as the old 'heavy' rail lines from Manchester city centre to Bury and Altrincham.
Now the system is poised to become one of the biggest modern light rail networks in Europe after cash was obtained for the phase 3 extension, which will open up services to Rochdale and Oldham, Ashton-under-Lyne, south Manchester and Manchester airport.
This will be paid for by a public sector funding package representing the largest ever single government investment in a local public transport system outside London, with a substantial private sector contribution.
When the extension is finished, the network will more than double in size from 39km to 95km; carry 40-45 million passengers annually; and boost Greater Manchester's economy by an estimated £3170 million a year. Construction is planned to start in the spring with all lines scheduled for completion by 2010.
Extensions to East Didsbury, Stockport and the Lowry centre could be added if further government resources are made available, while a Trafford Centre service is an extra option, depending on private sector funding.
M62 THE ROAD TO HELSINKI
E20 - a route linking the British Isles with northern Europe and ultimately Russia - has the ring of a Second World War convoy battling through U-boat attacks to Archangel or Murmansk.
The British part of the route, colloquially known as the M62, is hardly less stressful. As many a frazzled driver will testify, negotiating its traffic-clogged lanes at peak times is about as appealing as facing a Kriegsmarine wolfpack.
Built in piecemeal sections between 1960 and 1976, the trans-Pennine M62 is the country's second busiest motorway, with more than 120,000 vehicles passing daily along its most heavily used stretches.
The average level of congestion per weekday is expected to triple by 2010 to nearly five hours per day, with speeds slowing to less than 30 mph in the worst-hit areas, according to Highways Authority figures.
Among a number of initiatives is a Government Office for the North West study which recommends improvements costing more than £3260m to tackle congestion and upgrade travelling conditions between junction 18 at Simister and junction12 at Eccles.
The proposals include adding a fourth lane to the M60 anti-clockwise between junctions 15 and 13 (where the M62 and M60 merge); segregating M62 through traffic from M60 local traffic by building a bypass at junction 12; and enhancing traffic management and safety systems.
If traffic flow can be effectively managed, pundits believe the M62 could form one of the strongest links in a trade route stretching from Cork to Liverpool, over the Pennines and across the North Sea, before entering the Baltic and progressing to the EU accession states of Poland, Estonia and Latvia, and eventually through into Russia.
Professor Brian Robson, of Manchester University, believes that sufficient levels of investment could make the E20 Northern European Trade Axis (NETA) a serious rival to traditionally prosperous routes from the South East of England to western Germany.
The argument gained currency with the recent publication of 'Making it Happen - The Northern Way', a glossy booklet from the office of deputy prime minister John Prescott, which picks up on this Atlantic-to-Baltic theme.
"The argument is that if you had the more successful of the northern English cities, notably Leeds and Manchester, but also including Liverpool, Sheffield and Hull, you would have a considerable market with major synergies," says Robson.
"You could then begin stitching together a powerful counter-magnet to the South East in terms of business investment and development, which would become a northern Ranstad, emulating the Dutch cities which work collaboratively for mutual economic gain."
GATEWAY TO LIVERPOOL welcome to the capital of culture
The consensus among business people receiving visitors to Liverpool is not to let them arrive by car, unless it's through Speke.
The dross that must be suffered on the East Lancs Road, Edge Lane or Dock Road does not do any favours for the city's reputation.
But the transformation of Speke Boulevard - tree-lined, sculpture-filled, Jaguar-adorned - by the Speke Garston Development Corporation is about to be rolled out to these three other entrances.
Liverpool Land Development Company, SGDC's successor, has been charged with improving the arrival points to the city and has already drawn up various plans.
The A580 East Lancs Road will be upgraded at its main junctions including those with Queens Drive and the M57.
Line 1 of the proposed Merseytram, linking the area with the city centre and Kirkby, travels this way and will help ease congestion.
On Edge Lane, arguably the most important and worst route into the city, work on several aspects is required.
LLDC is aiming for a new layout at the junction of the M62 and Edge Lane to make it less complicated and slow for drivers to navigate.
The capacity of Edge Lane itself will be increased to allow dedicated lanes for bicycles, buses and Line 2 of the Merseytram.
On rail, an investigation is ongoing into the re-opening of the Bootle Branch which would improve north-south links and see a new station opened on Edge Lane.
To the north of the city, the A565 dock road will be improved as will Leeds Street. The area around Sandhills Station will be revitalised and investors sought in this once thriving industrial area.
MERSEYTRAM a bizarre turn of events
Despite its rediscovered confidence, Merseyside and Liverpool in particular cannot seem to resist the occasional political spat for old times' sake.
The hottest row of late was over the timing of the Merseytram network being planned by transport authority Merseytravel.
David Henshaw, chief executive of Liverpool city council, angered Merseytravel bosses and city councillors alike by sending out a letter which alleged the first tramline might not be built by its deadline of 2007 and could see the Capital of Culture year in 2008 ruined as a result.
Merseytravel reacted strongly to say Henshaw's concerns could in themselves delay the scheme and endanger £3170m of government money.
More bizarrely, Peter Millea, Liverpool's cabinet member for regeneration and the city's representative on Merseytram, did not receive the letter - and knew nothing of its existence until it had been sent out.
Millea said: ""I'm amazed and surprised at the lengths the chief executive has gone to. He did not fully involve myself or ask for my opinions."
Meanwhile, no-nonsense Neil Scales, chief executive of Merseytravel, effectively told Henshaw to chill out and shut up: "This is a straightforward system. We are here to help the city for 2008. It is not in our interests to leave the city centre a mess."
After several days of public feuding, the two sides retired to their chambers to consult lawyers before making further statements.
A public inquiry into Merseytram is due to start on April 20. Then, hopefully, we can get on with it.
TRANSPENNINE ACROSS THE DIVIDE
One of the most popular but least likely ways of reducing congestion on the busy M62 motorway is by investing in Transpennine rail links.
Cost, politics, competition for funding, a confused rail industry, all play against this common sense solution to a growing problem.
Malcolm Bingham, policy adviser with the Freight Transport Association, explains: "The east-west axis across the North is one of Europe's most important trade routes. However, at present there are too many speed restrictions on the rails and not enough capacity to make freight very successful.
He continues: "Investment is needed to improve lines in the south of the region - coming across from the Humber through Sheffield to Manchester and Liverpool - where passenger lines exist.
"To the north of the region there are other issues. It has long been argued that the Woodhead Tunnel should be reopened."
The line through the Woodhead Tunnel was closed decades ago and is currently used as a footpath but is well-placed to take freight off the M62.
Bingham adds: "This route could be used for what we call in the industry a rolling road, where lorries board a freight train at one end, bypass the roads and drive off at the other end, like on the Channel Tunnel."
But all this is pie-in-the-sky stuff at the moment and would require huge Private Finance Initiative investment to be realised. And private companies are not interested in running it because the customers are not there: cost savings of rail freight for distribution firms are only interesting over longer distances than the north allows.
Taking coal across Europe pays for itself on rail, but until the government subsidises rail freight or the market changes, prepare for further delays ahead on the M62.
LIVERPOOL WATERFRONT CRUISING
For those many Liverpudlians who love their maritime history and ache for big ships to return to the Pier Head, the cruise ship landing stage is a project long-overdue. The city council is now expected to win Port Authority approval for the 250-metre platform with work set to begin soon.
The £311m landing area is aimed at the thriving northern European cruise market, which doubled in size between 1994 and 2000. Around 25,000 new passengers are expected to step off at Liverpool each year after the platform opens.
These extra tourists will generate £36m in beer, beds and Beatles memorabilia for the local economy. As Liverpool gains in stature on the cultural tourism map this added attraction will help maintain its momentum.
British Waterways have also begun a major work to upgrade the frontage and create a new canal in a £315m investment
Indeed, Liverpool city council chief executive David Henshaw has pledged the facility, due to open next April, will woo Cunard's 85,000-tonne Queen Victoria to be named in front of the Royal Liver Building.
The new stage will also improve the entrance to Mersey Docks & Harbour Company's Princes Dock waterfront development. The city's former landing stage was torn down in 1974 and only a handful of cruise ships have visited since then
