I take your point (Andy Burnham has been after similar local fundraising powers for a while now), albeit it still doesn't get past the fact that London residents recieve circa £1,600 per head of population in transport investment, an amount about which the rest of the country can only dream . I believe the North West is the second best funded area, at just over a third of that amount per head.
Its all a un-virtuous circle (if thats a word) - maintain innequality between London and the regions and London will always be viewed as the best and 'only' choice for business investment. There should be a greater attempt at trying to spread central government spending in order to redress the balance, rather than continuing down the same path. Chris Grayling's recent statements re 'Northern Powerhouse' (thats just a fluffy name to make us all feel warm and cosy, when, as usual, the sums of money are pathetically small when considered against spending in the SE) infrastructure has been just plain embarrasing and borderline offensive.
I totally agree that the figures are just not right, but it's also realistic to say that equivalent infrastructure in London will always be more expensive than elsewhere in the country because of cost of land, and lack of availability for it. To build a big tunnel like Crossrail or Crossrail 2 you need a lot of land above surface to get materials below ground and waste material out. I used to work near Barbican where one of the many plots of land was that they used for this. The cost of buying the building there, clearing it and keeping the land 'vacant for over a decade must have been astronomical.
I have seen politicians claim that because X amount has been spent in London, X amount must also be spent in Manchester. I don't buy that as a principle. It's too simplistic, and sets up an us-and-them attitude. I think it's far better to look at equivalent benefits. Crossrail gives X level benefits to the community it serves. Let's get Greater Manchester a project that has the same level of benefit. It will probably be that the project here will be cheaper. And if it is, that's great too.
I am hopeful that having a Mayor will really help push forward public transport improvements. But it's not just money he needs. It's power. Transport for London has much greater power than Transport for Greater Manchester, and it's had it for 17 years. It has a raft of well planned schemes - like Crossrail 2 - in the bag and ready to go. Transport for Greater Manchester can't even control the number of buses or fares... As for trains, it's powers are very limited. There's a lot of catching up to do. And it will take time.
Incidentally a lot of businesses are seeing value in moving out of London. In my industry 20 years ago there were next to no jobs outside London. Now Manchester is thriving. Businesses are increasingly realising that there's talented people who don't want to, or can't afford to, live in London.
Topic: A6-M60 Bypass (Read 10761 times)