North-South divide to widen even more

So now we know..

“In fact, we expect that the fastest growing regions over the next three years will be the four most southerly ones, London, the South East, the South West and the East. This means that the economic gap between North and South could be larger in 2020 than it was in 2010.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business...conomy-fails-rebalance/?WT.mc_id=tmg_share_tw

 

That's why the idea of the Northern Powerhouse is so important.
First thing on the agenda is linking us in South Yorkshire with Manchester by creating motorway tunnels and rail tunnels under the Pennines - linking the M1 to the M60.

 

According to today's Chron the Government have dropped the idea of a road tunnel under the Pennines linking the Sheffield region to Manchester. Along with the decision to drop the electrification of the East Midland line and the decision to run slow trains, via Chesterfield to Sheffield for HS2 I suggest that's the contempt this Government has for South Yorkshire. They'll keep floating these pie in the sky ideas and doing diddly squat about them.

 

The M67 link to the M1 should have been built decades ago, and similarly reopening the woodhead tunnels for rail. The latter of course is now an impossibility.