At a meeting held yesterday (Thursday 10th April) with Transport Minister, Robert Goodwill, the heads of the South West Chambers of Commerce expressed the need for further investment in South West transport.
Derek Phillips, Chairman of South West Chambers welcomed Transport Minister, Robert Goodwill MP to the meeting, which addressed the various transport issues faced by the South West.
Attended by South West Chamber representatives and local MP Oliver Colville along with Professor Jon Shaw of Plymouth University who hosted the meeting, the discussion gave Chamber representatives an opportunity to put business views directly to the Transport Minister.
David Parlby, Chief Executive of Plymouth Chamber of Commerce said: “Our meeting with the Transport Minister represents an important element of our lobbying to improve the level of investment in South West transport infrastructure.
Discussing the recent rail disruption and the slow pace of improving road links to the region, we put our combined business case to the Minister to impress on him the importance to our economy of early investment in our transport infrastructure.
The recent disruption at Dawlish gave the rest of the UK the impression that the South West was closed, resulting in a detrimental impact to our economy, with many businesses reporting increased costs relating to the disruption and loss of potential earnings.
The fact that the Strategic National Transport Corridor Network (SNTCN) terminates at Exeter is not at all helpful to our cause. It means that we are unable to bid for the funding associated with the SNTCN. It is not at all clear why Plymouth, the 15th largest city in the UK, is not on the network and we asked the Minister to look into this. The South West has only a third of the investment spend in travel infrastructure compared to that in London. It is imperative that this spending disparity is addressed urgently”
During the meeting the Minister acknowledged the strategic importance of the A30/A303 and confirmed that this is one of six road improvement schemes being looked into. In light of the focus on the South West due to the recent Dawlish line collapse, the Minister also accepted the need for improved rail resilience for the region. The Minister stressed that various route options away from the coast are being investigated with a report due to be published in the late summer.
Somerset Chamber Chief Executive, Rupert Cox, argued that because previous plans for investing in the A303 had not come to fruition, considerable economic benefit has been lost. He urged that more needs to be done to connect the vibrant businesses located in the South West to share economic benefits with the rest of the UK as well as within the region.
David Parlby continued: “The Plymouth and South West Peninsula City Deal aims to lever £200million of private investment into the region. However the Deal could be even more successful were we to have the connectivity links enjoyed by the rest of the UK. I encourage the Minister to respond positively to our case such that the improvements we seek are reflected in Government policies over the course of the next six months.
Plymouth Chamber, along with our South West Chamber partners, will continue to liaise with businesses and lobby to ensure that a suitable transport solution is agreed upon and put into action as soon as possible.”