East Riding of Yorkshire Council has shown Transport for the North chairman Lord Patrick McLoughlin and chief executive Martin Tugwell some of the area’s recent infrastructure projects, as well as highlighting some of the transport challenges the county faces.
The visit came ahead of news that the East Riding will receive £168million over the next seven years as part of the Government’s £4.7 billion Local Transport Fund. Under the new fund, £2.5billion of HS2 funding has been reallocated to improve local transport connections in the North.
Lord McLoughlin and Mr Tugwell were met at Brough train station by Cllr Anne Handley, leader of East Riding of Yorkshire Council, and Cllr Paul West, cabinet member for environment and transport, along with senior council officers, who took them on a day-long bus tour of the region.
The first stop was the Siemens Mobility Rail Village in Goole, where director of localisation Finbarr Dowling showed the group around the state-of-the-art facility and explained its contributions to transport in the UK.
The visitors were then taken to see several other key sites in the East Riding, including the proposed link road near Howden, the £87million A164/Jock’s Lodge improvement works on the outskirts of Beverley and the A164 Willerby roundabout scheme.
The tour ended at Ergo business centre in Hessle, where discussions continued on how the region’s transport network could be improved.
Among the topics discussed was the electrification of the rail lines from Hull to Leeds and Hull to Sheffield, a commitment made by the Government as part of its Network North plans and the Hull and East Yorkshire devolution deal.
Lord McLoughlin said: “I was in the East Riding to hear about the great work being done locally, but also why upgrading the transport infrastructure in this part of the North is vitally important not just for this area but for UK plc.
“The work being done by Siemens Mobility in Goole is a good example of local leaders and businesses working together to create transformative change in a way that will benefit everyone.
“It also gives an insight into the prize that can be won for not just the East Riding but across our region if we better connect the North of England.”
