POLITICS


Government urged to give region’s businesses the infrastructure their growth demands


Travel delays and congestion are having a negative impact on business, according to Chamber research. More than one-in-ten firms have considered


moving to beat congestion and over half said they’d lost money because of delays. The Chamber asked firms across the region


how much they were being held back by poor infrastructure investment. According to Government figures,


infrastructure investment in the East Midlands is only 60% of the average per capita of the rest of the UK. The Chamber is lobbying for national parity by


2020. The shock results of the survey were that 68%


of respondents said they’d suffered delays due to roads congestion. Nearly a third of businesses (30%) said the


delays had caused them to incur increased costs in buying products or services and 18% said they’d lost at least one business opportunity due to the delays. As a direct consequence of the delays and


congestion, 11% of respondents said they’d considered relocating. Four-in-ten respondents said they felt the


roads network in the region was significantly less reliable today than it was five years ago, 32% said it was slightly less reliable and 27% said it was either the same or more reliable. Over half (51%) said they’d been affected by


roads maintenance issues such as closures and potholes. Nearly one-in-five (18%) said they’d implemented flexible working or looked at automation as a way of getting around delays caused by congestion. Over one-in-five (21%) said they’d suffered no


impact from roads maintenance issues. Asked if they thought more reliable road or


rail access could improve overseas trade for their business, 14% strongly agreed, 16% “somewhat” agreed, 49% were neutral, 7% “somewhat” disagreed and 14% strongly disagreed. Respondents were then asked to indicate


what traffic congestion schemes they might support. Seven per cent were in favour of workplace


parking levies or increase parking costs, nine per cent supported road/congestion charging, two per cent were in favour of road space rationing,


38 business network May 2018 The public perception of railways fared slightly better than roads


‘Over seven-in-ten of our members believe the roads network is less reliable today than it was five years ago’


five per cent backed multiple-occupant car lanes, eight per cent would support increased fuel taxes, five per cent favoured bus priority lanes, seven per cent would approve reduced speed limits and five per cent favoured clean air zones. Almost two thirds (62%) were not in favour of


any further restrictions on vehicle usage. Smart motorways schemes introduced or


being installed on many parts of the M1 were viewed favourably with 43% of respondents saying they had a positive effect and only 14% offering a negative response. Thirty-six per cent said they’d had no effect at all. Over a quarter of firms (26%) using vehicles


during their working day had either switched to or were contemplating a move to electric vehicles. Able to tick more than one box, 91% said environmental issues were behind their thinking, 73% cited tax benefits and 64% said it was because they’d be cheaper to run. Only 19% of businesses said they could access


charging points easily, 60% said they couldn’t access them easily and 14% said they had no access at all. In response, the Department for Transport said that it had more money allocated per head


of population to road projects in the Midlands and the East than in the South of the country. The railways fared slightly better than roads in


the perception of those filling in the survey with 36% saying the railway met their needs when it came to accessing customers, 32% taking a neutral position and 32% saying it didn’t meet their needs. The problems, however, extend beyond road


and rail issues. Despite the National Audit Office recently


concluding that the eventual cancellation of on/off/on/off/on and finally off again electrification of the Midland Main Line was merely a money-saving exercise and that Transport Secretary Chris Grayling had misled the region with his claim that bi-mode trains would offer a better service, there has been no hint yet that the £1bn project could, again, be reinstated. Other areas requiring urgent attention include


the region’s digital infrastructure. Mobile and online technologies are nowadays


considered crucial to conducting business and driving growth but one-in-ten of the survey’s respondents said they’d suffered mobile phone


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