Dull Devo Deal or No Deal - slammed....by Lord O'Neill

Dull devo proposals slammed

By Dan Peters | 04 October 2017

Just a handful of the 38 devolution proposals put forward from cities, towns and counties across the UK two years ago actually reached top politicians, a former Treasury minister has revealed.

Speaking at a recent conference hosted by the Southern Policy Centre think-tank, former commercial secretary to the Treasury, Lord O’Neill, admitted that ‘not many of them actually got beyond officials to the attention of the ministers and close advisers that were involved’.

Proposals were submitted through the Department for Communities and Local Government but the ex-minister suggested only a very small number actually reached his desk in the Treasury.

Lord O’Neill said one reason for this was ‘not that many had things that stood out that made them look particularly interesting’.

He said: ‘A lot of people would just come along and say: “Can you give us our GVA version of money that you gave to Sheffield?” What, that’s it? What is it you really want to do?’

Lord O’Neill said he was ‘sympathetic’ to frustrations that the Government’s approach to devolution was too focused on urban areas but defended the stance.

He continued: ‘If you want to make a difference nationally, by definition the places you have got to give the biggest amount of early attention to are the urban ones, which makes many people who are not in urban areas, say: “What about us?”

‘But, if you are approaching this from trying to change the national economy, it is reality that you must give primary attention to the urban areas.’

Lord O’Neill also blamed politics for the failure of a number of regions to elect a mayor.

He added: ‘There were at least two urban-based deals that didn’t happen, because of Conservative Party politics. It would be dressed up for other reasons publicly, but that’s why it didn’t happen.

‘The other big place where we never got a deal – and it’s sort of ridiculous – is Leeds. It gets dressed up in all sorts of crazy things, but it is because of the marginal Tory, or what is perceived to be marginal Tory seats in West Yorkshire.’

 

Just thought it was worth giving this a wider audience, what we have been saying in West Yorkshire for the past couple of years.

 

 

Transpennine Electrification - Good News for Kirklees

Photo: rail.co.uk

The decision to continue the electrification of Transpennine is perhaps the most important thing that
 could happen for Kirklees and particularly its two main towns, Huddersfield and Dewsbury.

Our two largest towns grew and thrived because of their geographical position and connectivity. Dewsbury because of its centrality within West Yorkshire; Huddersfield because of its position in a gap across the Pennines. The M62 is the main road artery connecting all the northern towns and cities. The key rail link joining Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, York Hull, Middlesbrough and Newcastle is Transpennine enabling 18,000 Kirklees citizens to work in Leeds and 12,000 to work in Manchester.

The fact that all trains taking this route stop in Huddersfield and half in Dewsbury, gives extraordinarily good access to the heart of the Northern economy; what Osborne refers to as the Northern Powerhouse.

When Government stopped the electrification programme there was serious danger that this main route might be transferred to the Calder Valley line, bypassing Kirklees completely or that a new line connecting Leeds and Manchester would be built with fast trains not stopping between the two main cities.

This decision will give confidence to future investors that our towns are uniquely situated to access the major markets of Greater Manchester, the Leeds City Region and ports on both sides of the country.

We must now exploit the opportunity. It makes the likelihood of Platform 9 Huddersfield and opening up the Railway Warehouse more likely within Network Rails plans, which will reshape Huddersfield Town Centre and gives investors really good reason and confidence in investing in Dewsbury the literal centre point of West Yorkshire.

Trains will speed up, which means 6 trains an hour from Huddersfield to Leeds in a time of 15 minutes, Dewsbury to Leeds in 10 minutes, Huddersfield to Manchester in 25 minutes and Dewsbury to Manchester in 30 minutes.

We will now press the Combined Authority to exploit the benefits of Platform 9 and open up Huddersfield Station with access both sides and to relocate the bus station in Dewsbury nearer to the station.

The opportunity is truly transformational.