{"id":72616,"date":"2016-07-21T15:11:20","date_gmt":"2016-07-21T15:11:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=d57a04dd6d7ea5739a84c75bc52bd2a8"},"modified":"2016-07-21T15:11:20","modified_gmt":"2016-07-21T15:11:20","slug":"news-story-transport-secretary-receives-progress-report-on-plan-to-get-midlands-economy-firing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=72616","title":{"rendered":"News story: Transport Secretary receives progress report on plan to get Midlands economy firing"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"govspeak\">\n<p>Research from the group of local authorities and business leaders has found that improving transport links to speed up journey times across the Midlands could:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>significantly boost the economy<\/li>\n<li>create thousands of new jobs<\/li>\n<li>save businesses millions of pounds<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The government has provided <a rel=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/www.midlandsconnect.uk\/\">Midlands Connect<\/a> with \u00a35 million to develop a new strategy to improve transport in the region. It is now working with the Department for Transport (<abbr title=\"Department for Transport\">DfT<\/abbr>) and transport operators on the plan which aims to set out credible long-term transport investment priorities to support transforming the Midlands into an engine for growth. Today\u2019s interim report \u2013 <a rel=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/www.midlandsconnect.uk\/media\/1070\/mc_picking-up-the-pace_report_110716_final.pdf\">Picking up the pace (PDF, 1.7MB)<\/a> \u2013 outlines Midlands Connect\u2019s initial work ahead of the full strategy which is due to be completed in March 2017.<\/p>\n<p>Chris Grayling said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"last-child\">Good transport helps people get around and get on and is crucial to driving economic growth. That is why the government is heavily investing in transport across the country, spreading opportunity and growth and bringing our country closer together. With its position at the heart of the <abbr title=\"United Kingdom\">UK<\/abbr>, the Midlands is vital to the country\u2019s success and I want the region to speak to government with one voice on its future transport priorities. Midlands Connect is making great progress, building evidence of the region\u2019s transport needs and bringing real momentum to making the Midlands an engine for growth. I look forward to working closely with Midlands Connect and seeing the proposals in the final strategy.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Picking up the Pace has 3 themes, to get growth planned, started and delivered. The report was launched at Derby City Council by Sir John Peace, chair of the Midlands Engine and Midlands Connect.<\/p>\n<p>The report comes following significant government investment in the region. In the East Midlands, the government has invested <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/news\/two-more-new-sections-of-a453-widening-scheme-set-to-open-to-traffic\">\u00a3150 million to widen the A453<\/a> and \u00a3200 million to upgrade the M1. On the railways, electrification of the Midland Mainline is pressing ahead. In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/news\/construction-of-nottingham-tram-extensions-to-start\">Nottingham, \u00a3370 million has been invested extending the tram network<\/a>. In Birmingham <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/news\/construction-of-midland-metro-extension-to-begin\">\u00a375 million has been invested extending the Metro from Snow Hill through the city centre<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/news\/transport-secretary-hails-birmingham-new-street-station-transformation\">\u00a3750 million to transform Birmingham New Street<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>There are now 40,000 more businesses in the Midlands than there were in 2010 and more people in work in the region than at any time since 1992. In more good news for the region, <a rel=\"external\" href=\"http:\/\/www.rolls-royce.com\/media\/press-releases\/yr-2016\/11-07-2016-rr-wins-900m-virgin-atlantic-order.aspx\">Rolls Royce recently won a new order worth nearly \u00a3700 million to build engines in Derby for Virgin Atlantic\u2019s jets<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The final Midlands Connect strategy will develop and examine options for measures that:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>maximise economic growth from <abbr title=\"High Speed Two\">HS2<\/abbr>\n<\/li>\n<li>reduce journey times and improve reliability between centres<\/li>\n<li>improve national, regional and local journeys through the Midlands<\/li>\n<li>improve connections to international gateways<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Operating as the transport component powering the Midlands Engine, the Midlands Connect partnership involves 11 Local Enterprise Partnerships, <a rel=\"external\" href=\"http:\/\/www.networkrail.co.uk\/\">Network Rail<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/organisations\/highways-england\">Highways England<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/organisations\/high-speed-two-limited\"><abbr title=\"High Speed Two\">HS2<\/abbr> Ltd<\/a>, 28 local authorities and the business community. The <abbr title=\"Department for Transport\">DfT<\/abbr> is an associate member.<\/p>\n<div class=\"contact \" id=\"contact_1016\">\n<div class=\"content\">\n<h3>News desk enquiries<\/h3>\n<div class=\"vcard contact-inner\">\n<div class=\"email-url-number\">\n<p class=\"tel\">\n              <span class=\"type\">Press enquiries<\/span><br \/>\n              020 7944 3021\n            <\/p>\n<p class=\"tel\">\n              <span class=\"type\">Out of hours<\/span><br \/>\n              020 7944 4292\n            <\/p>\n<p class=\"tel\">\n              <span class=\"type\">Public enquiries<\/span><br \/>\n              0300 330 3000\n            <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chris Grayling visits Derby as work progresses on regional transport strategy to power the Midlands Engine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72616"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=72616"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72616\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=72616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=72616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=72616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}