Yesterday, I received a letter from Liberal Democrat MP for Leeds North West, Greg Mulholland MP and Liberal Democrat Councillor and Chairman of the West Yorkshire Integrated Passenger Authority, Ryk Downes asking me for support for the ‘Fast Track to Yorkshire Campaign’ – a campaign I’m pleased say I fully support.
I personally welcome the to introduce a high speed rail network as an environmentally alternative to domestic air travel and car journeys like Greg and Ryk – I would much rather travel on rail, it’s by far safer, and more comfortable.
However, I believe the decision is biased and flawed and as pointed out in the letter that I received: “It is unacceptable that there is no place for Yorkshire in the Government’s planes, the introduction of a high speed rail line on the east of the country would bring huge economic benefits to the whole region.” And, don’t forget North East Lincolnshire would gain massively from those benefits; if the West Coast option went ahead we would lose out.
On 25 April this year Greg Mulholland wrote in the Yorkshire Post: “High-speed rail delivers a benefit to cost ratio of around 2:1 and the potential benefits to Yorkshire will total billions of pounds.”That equates to the combined economies of Leeds and Sheffield, the two economic "drivers" of the region, which in itself surely justifies a direct link to London.
”But the cost of missing out would also be huge. A high-speed line on the other side of the country, without one to Yorkshire, would take away huge amounts of investment as people and companies relocated close to the new express route. We cannot let this happen.
”We have long had a sense of not getting a fair deal for transport spending in Yorkshire. Figures for 2007-8 show that transport spending was a lowly £234 per head in Yorkshire compared with a UK average of £326 and a whopping £641 in London.
”Furthermore, vast amounts of taxpayers' money continue to be ploughed into the West Coast main line. In 2007-8, Virgin received a subsidy of £162m, or 3.8p per passenger kilometre. By contrast, National Express East Coast paid £32m in net terms as part of its franchise agreement, in effect a negative subsidy, equivalent to 2.4p per passenger kilometre.
”No one is saying that people and businesses in the North-West don't deserve good transport links, but so do people in this region.The simple fact is that we are not getting a fair deal in Yorkshire and that must not be extended to high-speed rail.”
I urge everyone to support Greg Mulholland in his campaign.
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