LETTERS: So much for the ‘Northern Powerhouse’

Is the south getting the better deal on rail improvements?
Is the south getting the better deal on rail improvements?

The announcement that the government is postponing the electrification of the Trans-Pennine route between Leeds and Manchester is bad news for Morley’s rail travelling public.

This means inevitably that the existing 30-year-old boneshaker carriages will continue for much longer and any chance of increasing the frequency of trains stopping at Morley will not happen as the faster electric trains will not be available.

This electrification proposal was a scheme that underpinned the Government’s Northern Powerhouse strategy, this is now looking like nothing more than but pre- election hype aimed at getting votes, not delivering real benefits for northern towns and cities.  Another example of the Conservatives grabbing the headlines but delivering nothing.

The much talked about Trans-Pennine HS3 scheme still has to make it to a drawing board with not even a hint of a plan, a route, timeframe or any projected costs.  Meanwhile back in the south east work continues on the £16 billion crossrail project and now work is starting on the £600m Underground line extension from Kennington to Battersea this month…so much for the Northern powerhouse.

Coun Neil Dawson

Labour, Morley South