IPPR: Transport spending gap between London and regions set to increase

The latest report from the Institute for Public Policy Research highlights the growing gap in transport infrastructure spending between London and the rest of England, with investment set to reach £1,943 per head in the capital, compared to £427 per head in the North.

According to IPPR North’s ‘Paying for our progress’ report released today, the national infrastructure and construction pipeline shows that London will receive £20.6bn towards all types of infrastructure from 2016/17 onwards, which equates to more than a third of money due to be spent across England as a whole.

Looking specifically at transport investment, between 2011/12 and 2016/17 public spending in the capital was £725 per person, while in the North it was £286 per person.

IPPR has predicted that this imbalance will only get worse.

The infrastructure pipeline to 2021 shows that London will get £1,943 per person, compared to £682 in the North West. Yorkshire and the Humber will receive the least investment of all regions in England, at £190 per head.

Crossrail will cost £4.7bn from 2017 onwards, while all Northern transport projects will cost a combined total of £6.6bn.

According to the report, the UK Government has failed to meet targets set by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development for infrastructure spending since the late 1970s.

Private sector investment has buoyed the sector in some areas, but only those which are most likely to be commercially viable.

IPPR said: “The disparity between public and private sector funding means certain aspects of infrastructure provision simply do not get funded. Private sector funding is essentially limited to power generation, water and sewerage.”

Read the report in full here http://www.ippr.org/publications/paying-for-our-progress