Look objectively, and our region has all the right ingredients to be a connectivity powerhouse. Major ports? Tick. Road-links heading North, South, East and West? Not a problem. Airports with the capacity for millions? We’ve got them. Rail connectivity within striking distance of England and Scotland’s capitals? Yes, we have those too. But all this existing connectivity begs the question: why do we still feel like an afterthought? Yorkshire should be a transport hub for the United Kingdom.
There is a well-documented productivity gap, which acts as an anchor on the UK’s growth. Britain’s cities suffer the effect of being made smaller by poor transport links. This has an inter-regional effect, which affects people’s abilities to travel efficiently to work or between population centres. According to campaign group Britain Remade, fewer than 40 per cent of Leeds residents can make it into the city centre in under 30 minutes.