Programme director at England's Economic Heartland, Martin Tugwell, is a popular and well-known figure at ADEPT's annual conference.
Highways caught up with him between sessions to find out how things are going in his area - sometimes called the golden triangle of South East growth - which seems to get name checked in almost every Budget.
The 2017 Budget stated:
- by 2024 the western section of East West Rail will be complete, allowing services between Oxford and Bedford, and Aylesbury and Milton Keynes
- a new East West Rail Company is being established [launched 18/12/2017] to accelerate delivery of the central section between Bedford and Cambridge, aiming for completion by the mid-2020s and leveraging private sector investment
- the Government is committing £5m to develop proposals for Cambridge South station, and is starting a study on the enhancements needed to accommodate future rail growth across Cambridgeshire.
- construction will begin on key elements of the Expressway between Cambridge and Oxford in the second Roads Investment Strategy - government will also accelerate work on the ‘missing link’ elements of the Expressway so that it is ready to open by 2030. The Government is commissioning England’s Economic Heartland to analyse how communities not on the route of the ‘missing link’ will be able to benefit from it.
Q How are things going at England’s Economic Heartland after another good budget?
It’s a great recognition by government that they need to commit resources – hard cash – to invest in delivering the infrastructure. But it is only the start of the journey. It is great to see the support given for East West Rail and Cambridge South Station,
It is great to see a commitment and a commissioning of work to see how we can build upon the work with the [planned Cambridge to Oxford] Expressway to link it with the rest of the network.
These are a great steps but the scale of the oppprtunity that the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) identified means we are going to have to do a lot more. So it is very much the start but we are getting the building blocks in place that allow us to do that.
Q What kind of help do you need with capacity to deliver all this?
This financial year we have seen some financial support from the Department for Transport (DfT) for the work of EEH.
We have been working with the DfT to see if we can consolidate that and get the level of core funding that would allow us to have that strategic approach.
Moving forward, we are going to need that core capacity to build upon because there is an opportunity to develop this programme approach to have a regional evidence base. These are things which take some resource, more than we have at the moment. We still are having that conversation with the department.
I am hopeful that over the coming weeks and months we will see that come through. We will see the schemes delivered faster and because it is more effective, probably more schemes as well.
Q Where is that best resource best targeted?
It is a combination. There is an advantage of having a small team of people dedicated to looking at the strategic issues but the whole nature of the approach, not just for EEH but for all the sub-national transport bodies (STBs), is about working in collaboration with partners - so recognising that a lot of the day-to-day delivery and detailed planning is still going to happen at the individual local authority level.
We need that input and collaboration. So it's a combination of a small team working on strategic issues but working in collaboration with partners. And it is encouraging to see the continued support within the department for the work of STBs. That in its own right is very encouraging and a cause for optimism.
Q Are the STBs talking together?
Between us we recognise there is learning to share, experience to share between the four of us, Transport for the North (TfN) is obviously just on the verge of becoming a statutory body. That’s great for them and there are opportunities to learn from that.
We are starting to meet on a regular basis and starting to have those regular conversations with the DfT and Highways England and Network Rail.
Really great news in terms of proper strategic planning on the really key strategic issues
Q We know many in the sector don't like competitive bidding. Do you think that Highways England's planned programme approach was better?
I think that is the way forward. We see with Network Rail and Highways England the benefit of five-year investment programmes. That’s the kind of constructive approach to pipeline planning of investment that is really helpful.
Now with the work STBs have on the major road network that is about to begin, we can start to see the benefit of that long-term planning - working with partners in STBs to actually start mapping this.
What can we expect in 2018?
From my perspective we should be looking at how strategic transport planning can really come to fruition.
I think the success of TfN in becoming a statutory STB is going to act as a catalyst. We have seen our own area backed by the NIC and the Budget, suggesting the area between Oxford and Cambridge is really important for the economy and for investment in infrastructure and services.
We have to see more of this high level commitment being translated into real plans, real certainty of delivery to give businesses the confidence to invest in the future and give us a successful economy.
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