Memorandum submitted by Manchester City
Council (LR 82)
INTEGRATED TRANSPORT: THE FUTURE OF LIGHT
RAIL AND MODERN TRAMS IN BRITAIN
The Committee has received a memorandum from
Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Authority and Executive.
Manchester City Council is lead authority for transport within
Greater Manchester and I act as Clerk to the Authority.
I write also to endorse this submission and
to add the following comments on behalf of Manchester City Council.
There is a wide and growing body of research
that places excellent transport links as one of the most influential
determinants of where companies will locate in the future. Professor
Michael Parkinson's recent study for the Deputy Prime Minister,
for instance, showed that connectivity—along with a small
number of other conditions such as a skilled workforce—is
a key enabler of competitiveness and critical to success. Indeed,
there are very few examples of successful regions around the world
that do not have good transport links, or of successful regions
that do not have well connected cities—at international,
national and local levels—at their heart.
The most productive businesses operate in the
most demanding international markets and will therefore tend to
cluster in areas with superior accessibility. Hence the growth
of the knowledge economy and general popularity of London and
the "Greater South East" as a business location. However,
the UK's major regional cities are relatively poorly served in
comparison and positively second-rate compared to our EU and global
equivalents and this surely must be a factor in the widening UK
regional prosperity gap.
Manchester is transforming itself into a world-class
regional capital city, one that is increasingly categorised as
a City of Opportunity rather than a centre of decline. We are
leading the way on the urban renaissance outside London—indeed
the Deputy Prime Minister has dubbed the City the "UK regeneration
capital". This is recognised within relevant Government initiatives
that, importantly, are also increasingly highlighting transport
as a key issue. For example, the Northern Way Growth Strategy,
which will underpin the Government's objective to reduce the persistent
North-South growth and prosperity gap, highlights Manchester's
key role in driving the North of England economy and explicitly
states that Metrolink Phase 3 has a critical role to play in delivering
the Strategy.
Metrolink has undoubtedly been a key factor
in our recent economic revival and the Phase 3 expansion underpins
Greater Manchester's entire regeneration future. Recent independent
research by leading consultants tells us that without Phase 3,
— 28% of the projected 100,000 new
jobs may be lost—many new labour market participants would
come from some of the UK's most deprived communities
— this equates to £1.8 billion
GVA losses by 2020
— private sector confidence will be
undermined and will potentially result in major lost investment
— brownfield land may well remain underdeveloped,
affecting Government targets
It is also important to note that Government
made a very public commitment to funding the Phase 3 expansions
in March 2000. A four-year procurement process then ensued, during
which time Manchester worked constructively with Government at
all stages of the process following, I would emphasise, DfT procurement
rules/requirements right through to BAFO bids. While we accept
that costs went up during this period, this was not surprising
because of the time delay alone but coupled with developments
elsewhere in the transport sector over this period that resulted
in an increasingly risk-averse private sector, it was in fact
inevitable and indeed not unique to Manchester.
Following the Secretary of State's announcement
in July 2004 that the previously agreed funding of £520 million
had been withdrawn, a public "Get Back on Track" campaign
was launched in Greater Manchester and the Prime Minister subsequently
established a Metrolink Working Party to carry out a full review
of Phase 3.
Local officials submitted a revised case in
September 2004 that we believe:
— Demonstrated Metrolink is the optimum
solution for the specified corridors, in the context of the July
04 Transport White Paper.
— Set out the full economic costs and
disbenefits of delaying or failing to deliver Metrolink Phase
3.
— Addressed cost/affordability issues,
including the definition of new revenue sharing and risk arrangements.
— Put forward proposals for re-structuring
the financing of Phase 3, following a review of procurement options.
— Addressed how the new measures available
in the White Paper might be used to maximise patronage and therefore
support the viability of Metrolink as part of Greater Manchester's
integrated transport strategy.
DfT officials actively promoted bus alternatives,
and this required further evaluation of these alternatives. We
undertook this diligently, and examined routes, vehicle types,
possible integration strategies with heavy rail and other bus
networks. We also produced patronage forecasts, costs and revenue,
and benefit profiles. A very comprehensive assessment and the
following key outcomes were presented to the Working Party:
— None of the bus alternatives could
be delivered within the funding envelope of £520 million
agreed for Metrolink in December 2002. Significant additional
resources would be required, probably of the order of £100
million. This brought into even sharper focus the fact that re-pricing
the value of the £520 million, as agreed in December 2002,
into today's prices would give us £645 million . . . enough
to build at least two Metrolink lines.
— Bus-based alternatives would deliver
very significantly reduced benefits in comparison with Metrolink.
Examples:
— Buses would remove about 2.2
million car journeys from the system, compared with 5.6 million
through Metrolink.
— Buses would have more limited
capacity to cater for demand: 12.3 million a year instead of the
18 million carried by Metrolink.
— User benefits would be 302 for
buses, compared with 1,143 for Metrolink. Non-User benefits for
buses were shown as 168, compared to 502 for Metrolink.
— The cost to benefit ratio for
buses were about 1.5:1 compared to Metrolink's 2.6:1.
— There were also very significant
capacity constraints within Manchester city centre that made a
bus-based solution impracticable, certainly in the absence of
very aggressive and immediate demand restraint measures in relation
to the use of the car.
— We made the point that our fundamental
objection to the bus option was that it did not provide the scale
of capacity and benefits we were seeking. The Manchester city-region
economy is reinventing itself. We had demonstrated our capacity
to improve competitiveness, we had created more than 25,000 new
jobs over the last few years, and we were confidently predicting
more than 100,000 new jobs over the next 10 years throughout Greater
Manchester. This growth profile was unsustainable without the
public transport capacity for people to access job markets.
— Our transport strategy was fully
integrated with local and national regeneration plans and programmes.
Indeed, we were one of the very few areas in the country which
had not only created jobs, but had also seen a change in modal
share in favour of public transport.
We positively welcome the Government's recent
reinstatement of the £520 million funding package and the
Prime Minister's public support for the principle of Metrolink
at the Sustainable Communities Summit in Manchester earlier this
month.
In terms of next steps, a submission has now
been made to the DfT for a package of essential maintenance/improvement
works to Phases 1 and 2 to ensure the system continues to operate
effectively and efficiently such that it remains an attractive
alternative to the car. This funding bid covers capacity enhancement;
stop and vehicle improvement to bring them up to the new legislative
standards required under the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA)
and Road Vehicle Accessibility Regulations (RVAR) and track renewal
works to address the question of poor ride quality, primarily
on the Bury line.
We are also currently engaged in developing
an Integrated Transport Strategy for the Phase 3 corridors for
submission to the DfT in the Spring. The plan will address:
— Delivery of the Metrolink Phase 3
network, including funding options.
— Better links between bus, rail and
Metrolink.
— New measures to encourage more people
to use public transport.
— Ideas to get the most out of the
local rail network.
— Better ticketing and smarter travel
choices; park and ride; improved transport interchanges and intelligent
transport systems like "real-time" passenger information.
In closing I would reaffirm Manchester's commitment
to Metrolink. We have proved that it works. It gets people out
of their cars and onto public transport and it's good for the
environment. In fact, it meets all the objectives we share with
Government, and that is why we are determined to deliver Phase
3 and to build upon that for the future economic and social success
of Greater Manchester, the North West of England and the UK as
a whole.
I can confirm that the Passenger Transport Authority
and Executive and the City Council would be happy to give oral
evidence, if the Committee would find that useful.
Sir Howard Bernstein
Chief Executive
February 2005
|
