POLITICS


The road to fairer investment


Trying to persuade Government to recognise and reward the contribution the East Midlands makes to the national economy has been a major goal of the Chamber and partners for well over a year. Local MPs signed a pledge late in 2017 to


drive infrastructure investment and, subsequently, meetings have been held at Ministerial level to garner support for a campaign for parity with the national average by 2020. But according to the Government’s own


figures, infrastructure investment in the region remains at only 60% of the national average per head. Across the region, there remain areas with less


than satisfactory broadband, mobile phone not- spots and highways where congestion is so bad that more than one-in-ten firms have considered relocating in a bid to reduce the cost burdens of jams, particularly on the two ends of the A46 in our region. A staggering 68% of regional firms said they


had lost money, and sometimes orders and new business, because congestion made it hard for them to deliver or had caused them to miss meetings with potential clients. And there is the continuing on-off-on-off


again saga of Midland Main Line electrification, despite the Transport Select Committee chastising Transport Secretary Chris Grayling for cancelling the scheme without Parliamentary


debate and demanding it be reinstated to the ‘pipeline’ of works to be undertaken. Even though more goods are made here in the


East Midlands than anywhere else in the UK, and we are very good at shipping what we make around the world, our success is more despite Government than because of it. In July last year the Chamber gave a cautious


welcome to the Government’s 30-year infrastructure assessment but criticised it for being London-centric, paying only lip-service to the needs of the Northern Powerhouse and making no reference, other than HS2, to any improvements to roads or rail connectivity in the East Midlands. The Chamber has, for some time, called for a


formal 50-year infrastructure plan. Poor infrastructure investment is holding back


regional productivity and profitability and negatively impacting recruitment. In short, it is stifling regional growth and, consequently, damaging the national economy. And with Brexit looming ever closer, the need


to deliver a strong message that UK plc remains open for business has never been more necessary. One way of delivering that message is to show positivity, such as real investment in the East Midlands. Those are among the strong messages to


come out of a Chamber-led Infrastructure Summit this month, in Leicester, and staged in conjunction with East Midlands Council and


‘Time and again, despite being a major contributor to the national economy, this region is overlooked when it comes to infrastructure investment’


36 business network February 2019


Sir John Peace, Chair of Midlands Connect and the Midlands Engine, was a keynote speaker at the recent Infrastructure Summit


Midlands Connect, the transport arm of the Midlands Engine for Growth. The first half of the event was chaired by


Stuart Young, Director, East Midlands Council. He introduced Sir Peter Soulsby, Leicester City Mayor and Chair of Transport for East Midlands, who talked about progress made since the inaugural East Midlands Infrastructure Summit last year, Simon Statham, Head of Technical Programmes, Midlands Connect, on the A46 corridor and Stephen Pauling, Head of Rail, Midlands Connect, on the Midlands Connect rail programme. Chris Hobson, Director of Policy at the Chamber, chaired the second half of the event. He introduced Shammi Raichura, Regional Cities Lead, Uber (the main sponsor of the event), who talked about the future of urban mobility, Karen Smart, Managing Director at East Midlands Airport, who talked about growing the airport, and Andrew Pritchard, of East Midlands Connect and Transport for East Midlands, who talked about the connectivity of HS2. The keynote address was from Sir John Peace,


Chair of Midlands Connect and the Midlands Engine. Chris said: “Time and again, despite being a major contributor to the national economy, this


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