Chamber President Urges Chancellor to Back Northern Hub

Date published: 02 February 2012

The President of Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, Martin Douglas, has written to the Chancellor to stress the importance of the Northern Hub project to the business community, and ask that all the work is completed in full.

The letter was sent to George Osborne ahead of the Budget on 21st March, and asks him to consider the business case for the project and the impact it would have on the region’s economic recovery.

Northern Hub is Network Rail’s plan to stimulate economic growth by upgrading the rail network of the North. At present, there is a major bottleneck on the rail system and Network Rail has developed plans for £560million of targeted investment to relieve the bottleneck.

Martin Douglas, President of the Chamber and General Manager at Cargill PLC, said:
“The Northern Hub project is vital and timely as it will enable growth through investment in infrastructure in the North of England. As importantly, the Northern Hub will facilitate fast rail connections from East to West in the North of England, allow people job opportunities across the region and facilitate efficient business connections in our major Northern cities. It will additionally take some peak travel congestion away from the M60 and M62 which will be a welcome relief to drivers.”

Greater Manchester Chamber has been campaigning for the full completion of the project, alongside Network Rail and other Chambers of Commerce across the North West.

Commenting on the campaign, Emma Antrobus, Transport Policy Manager at Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, said: “By making rail travel across the North faster and more frequent, the Northern Hub will boost the region’s economy by £4.2 billion and create up to 30,000 extra jobs. There will be a £4 boost to the economy for every £1 spent on Northern Hub improvements. Historically, the transport infrastructure in the North has lacked the investment that other areas of the country have seen and therefore many of our railways are in desperate need of improvement.”

Network Rail submitted the proposal for the Northern Hub to Government in September 2011 as part of the Initial Industry Plan and expects a decision from Government by Summer 2012.

Further details about the Northern Hub project can be found at www.northernhub.co.uk