England’s Economic Heartland – Newsletter and Spending Review 2021

On Tuesday the Chancellor announced the launch of a three year Spending Review which will set resource and capital budgets for 2022-23 to 2024-25 and conclude on 27 October 2021, alongside Autumn Budget 2021.

EEH’s Spending Review 2021 submission has been considered by our Strategic Transport Forum and is due to go before our new ‘Strategic Transport Leadership Board’ (see below) later this month for final ratification.

Our submission is about turning the words in our transport strategy into actions. With the right investment in improving connectivity, we can unlock economic growth in our region for the benefit of the UK, while achieving net zero as early as 2040.

The submission takes a four‑pronged approach to securing the necessary investment in the Heartland’s transport infrastructure:

1. Securing the capital funding required to support partners commence the construction and/or delivery of known priorities before 2025.
2. Securing the revenue funding required to develop schemes identified in the transport strategy’s investment pipeline through the planning and development phase to make them ‘oven ready’.
3. Securing the funding to increase regional capacity and capability in support of partners developing and delivering investment priorities.
4. Ensuring the government’s commitment to sub-national transport bodies is appropriately reflected by a long-term commitment to their resourcing.

Alongside the Spending Review, EEH continues to ensure that National Highways and Network Rail’s separate investment programmes are maintaining their focus on delivery of our region’s priorities.

England’s Economic Heartland’s governance structure has been strengthened following a review by the leaders of our local authority partners.

Our two political-level meetings – the Strategic Transport Forum and EEH Leaders Group meeting – have now been consolidated into a single meeting, provisionally titled the ‘Strategic Transport Leadership Board’.

The Board will be held in public on a quarterly basis (as a minimum).

It will first meet on Friday, September 24, when its Chair and Vice-Chair will be elected.

The new Board, supported by the EEH business unit led by interim director Naomi Green, will continue to ensure our focus on driving outcomes and delivering investment for the benefit of the region.

It is with great sadness that we heard of the death last month of Cllr Paul Castleman, who up until recently had represented Luton Council on EEH’s Strategic Transport Forum.

Paul, who had lived all his life in Luton, was first elected as a councillor in 2014 and became a member of the executive in May 2015. He was a proud Lutonian, who revelled in the town’s cultural diversity. A large part of his motivation for entering the political sphere was to be able to help those less fortunate than himself.

His strong roots and ties to Luton meant he was passionate about its unique heritage and history.  Paul was on the council’s executive as portfolio holder for highways until May of this year. During his term of office he was active in promoting the council’s green transport agenda as well as having oversight of the town’s travel infrastructure.

Research on step-free railway station access carried out by an EEH officer as part of his masters degree in transport planning has been featured in an international journal.

EEH project lead, Antony Swift, examined the benefits of step-free access and its relationship with rail usage among ‘persons with reduced mobility’ (PRMs), and the wider benefits of railway station accessibility.

The research was conducted for Antony’s dissertation with the University of Westminster, which was supported by EEH as part of its commitment to support colleagues’ professional development. It has now been published in European Transport Research Review, which is free to access online.

Naomi Green, EEH’s interim director, said: “We are immensely proud of Antony. By investing in this degree, and supporting him through it, we have seen Antony drive forward thinking on improving accessibility on public transport. It is a wonderful example of how a small, dedicated team can deliver for the region, and the transport sector.”

The research involved interviews with key organisations and an analysis of Senior/Disabled Persons Railcard data from 17 railway stations in Buckinghamshire, each with varying levels of step-free accessibility.

It has shown that the benefits of step-free access extend beyond benefits to individuals, positively affecting broader society economically, environmentally, and socially. The findings also show a positive correlation between the level of step-free accessibility at a railway station and the percentage of PRMs using it.

It argues that government and interested stakeholders should commit to expanding the number and coverage of step-free stations throughout the UK, while ensuring that the appraisal process for investment in step-free accessibility appropriately captures both user and non-user benefits.

EEH has published its annual report, which highlights the work over the past year – and our ambitions for the next 12 months.

It is available on our website.

There’s lots going on on our Twitter account and website, including blogs from the team, consultation responses, meeting reports and updates on our work, allowing you to get the inside track on our work.

Please join us and contribute to the debate.

Twitter: @economicheart
Website: www.englandseconomicheartland.com