South Yorkshire to see major transport investment
George Osborne is set to give the green light to major rail developments in the north of England and London in his Budget on Wednesday.
George Osborne is set to give the green light to major rail developments in the north of England and London in his Budget on Wednesday.
The Chancellor is expected to confirm Government backing for the HS3 high-speed rail link between Manchester and Leeds, and the Crossrail 2 project to connect Surrey and Hertfordshire via stations in central London.
The developments came as the National Infrastructure Commission - set up by the Government in 2015 to advise on long-term projects to boost the economy - released a report calling for "immediate and very significant investment'' in transport for the North of England, and a plan for longer-term transformation to cut journey times, raise capacity and improve reliability.
The new report followed last week's launch of a similar NIC study into Crossrail 2, which urged ministers to "get on right away'' with the south-west to north-east cross-London line.
In a £300 million Budget package to boost transport links in his cherished "Northern Powerhouse'', Mr Osborne is expected to commit the Government to taking forward HS3 between Manchester and Leeds, with £60 million to cut journey times to 30 minutes from their current 49.
A full blueprint for HS3 will be drawn up by next year.
He will also announce £75 million to develop plans for a trans-Pennine tunnel between Sheffield and Manchester and explore options for improvements to the M60 ring-road around Manchester as well as the A66 and A69 coast-to-coast trunk roads further north.
Highways England is set to be given £161 million to accelerate upgrades to the M62 Liverpool-Hull motorway.
And he will launch a new £1.2 billion fund to release brownfield land to build more than 300,000 starter homes across the country.
The NIC report identified the construction of HS3 and boosted capacity for the M62 as key ingredients for the Northern Powerhouse programme to improve the economic prospects of the north of England.
The high-speed rail line should eventually be extended to connect Liverpool in the west with Hull and Newcastle in the east, and its route should link in with the HS2 line joining London, the Midlands and the North, said the report.