Liz Truss pledged to build long-awaited scheme in full but new transport secretary Mark Harper has hinted at a return to a scaled-back version
Transport secretary Mark Harper
Reverting to a scaled back version of the Northern Powerhouse Rail project would be a “serious setback to levelling up”, campaigners warned this week.
Henri Murison, chief executive of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership lobby group, said: “It raises serious questions about their plans for growth, given that the north’s woeful transport infrastructure continues to weigh down our economy and hold back private investment.”
Murison was responding to reports that prime minister Rishi Sunak looks set to reverse the commitment made just weeks ago by his predecessor Liz Truss, to build the original NPR scheme in full, including a new station in Bradford, and not the scaled-back version that had previously been proposed by Boris Johnson.
With the government trying to plug a £40bn hole in its budget, the new secretary for state for transport, Mark Harper, appeared to distance himself from Truss’s NPR commitment when he referred to “mistakes” made during her short-lived administration
With the government trying to plug a £40bn hole in its budget, the new secretary for state for transport, Mark Harper, appeared to distance himself from Truss’s NPR commitment when he referred to “mistakes” made during her short-lived administration. Talking to Sky News, he hinted that he would revert to Johnson’s version of the scheme and said that the Department for Transport was now reviewing “all the options”.
Meanwhile, the DfT has said that the government remains committed to the HS2 rail project despite suggestions from levelling up secretary Michael Gove that this project could also be scaled back. His comments came amid growing concerns about the project’s mounting costs.
This story appears in the latest issue of Passenger Transport.
Northern Powerhouse Rail to be scaled back?
by Passenger Transport on Nov 4, 2022 • 2:37 pm No CommentsLiz Truss pledged to build long-awaited scheme in full but new transport secretary Mark Harper has hinted at a return to a scaled-back version
Reverting to a scaled back version of the Northern Powerhouse Rail project would be a “serious setback to levelling up”, campaigners warned this week.
Henri Murison, chief executive of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership lobby group, said: “It raises serious questions about their plans for growth, given that the north’s woeful transport infrastructure continues to weigh down our economy and hold back private investment.”
Murison was responding to reports that prime minister Rishi Sunak looks set to reverse the commitment made just weeks ago by his predecessor Liz Truss, to build the original NPR scheme in full, including a new station in Bradford, and not the scaled-back version that had previously been proposed by Boris Johnson.
With the government trying to plug a £40bn hole in its budget, the new secretary for state for transport, Mark Harper, appeared to distance himself from Truss’s NPR commitment when he referred to “mistakes” made during her short-lived administration. Talking to Sky News, he hinted that he would revert to Johnson’s version of the scheme and said that the Department for Transport was now reviewing “all the options”.
Meanwhile, the DfT has said that the government remains committed to the HS2 rail project despite suggestions from levelling up secretary Michael Gove that this project could also be scaled back. His comments came amid growing concerns about the project’s mounting costs.
This story appears in the latest issue of Passenger Transport.
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