20 September 2002
The CBI said the North East Regional Assembly's £100,000 draft transport strategy, published this week, was 'parochial' and unlikely to elicit a significant change in economic performance.
The CBI argued it focused too heavily on 'side issues', such as the introduction of a congestion charging scheme, and placed undue emphasis on using a dilapidated rail network to regenerate the area. CBI experts concluded that the document was 'timid, bland humdrum.'
Steve Rankin, CBI director for the North East, told Public Finance: 'We need a 21st-century strategy to match the 21st-century aspirations of the region's businesses. The draft strategy is far from that.'
But the regional assembly said the report was 'merely a consultation document'.
Meanwhile, business leaders in the West Midlands promised to continue lobbying the government for extra transport cash, claiming that Labour and the Strategic Rail Authority overlooked serious underfunding in the region.
PFsep2002
