It’s time to stop the talking and start taking some action

Apr 23 2008 by Kevan Carrick for The Journal

AFEW weeks ago I attended a seminar at Tees Valley Regeneration in Stockton to hear about the plans for a new Metro system in the area. This ambitious proposal would make a huge difference to getting around the region and it prompted me to think about the role that transport and communications play in the property market and the wider economy.

Tyneside has had an urban railway system for more than 100 years. It was electrified as early as 1905 and it now forms the bulk of the present-day Metro. There are not many major economic centres in the Tyne & Wear conurbation that aren’t within easy reach of a Metro station, either adjacent or a short bus ride away. In short, the Metro network carries the life-blood of our economy.

Transport is a fundamental factor in our fiscal prosperity and the key to its long-term success. From the shameful state of the A1 in Yorkshire to the government’s eternal reluctance to upgrade the Northumberland section, it’s the economy that will ultimately suffer. Those in London may choose to criticise the region’s economic dependence, but without transport investment we can never be truly independent. The irony is that the purse strings are all held in London, where the focus is currently on the 2012 Olympics.

Two years ago, the regions were asked to submit transport priorities to the Department of Transport (DoT) with a view to taking control of their own destiny, but the recent announcement on investment, or lack thereof, would seem to suggest that Whitehall is very much back in the driving seat.

This is the same DoT which recently claimed we don’t have the congestion problems to merit serious investment in our roads. Try telling this to anyone who queues daily for the Tyne Bridge or the Tyne Tunnel.

It is a proven fact that investment in transport is the single most effective way to fuel economic development where’s it’s most needed. We currently depend on woefully inadequate roads and a Victorian railway infrastructure with ageing rolling stock. Most worryingly, the longer we leave it, the longer it will take to put right.

I like the plans for a Tees Valley Metro system, they were developed in the North East, they are carefully costed and completely achievable. The fact is, however, the people who have planned this will have no role in deciding if it goes ahead, nor will elected representatives from the region. The decision lies with Whitehall, as does the problem.

Surely people who live and work here are best placed to act upon the needs of the North East? We don’t need long-winded lectures – we do need to stop talking and start doing.

Kevan Carrick is a partner in JK Property Consultants LLB and Policy Spokesman for RICS North East