'Blue Line' campaign for North motorway
March 22, 2002
A new campaign to build a North-South motorway to bridge the regional prosperity divide will be launched by the region's business leaders next week.
North-East business chiefs will meet ministers on Monday to press the case for a motorway link between Tyneside and London as part of a package of major transport projects.
The ‘Blue Line’ campaign is designed to put the region on the motorway map by extending the M1 from Leeds to Newcastle - overcoming what is seen as the number one obstacle to economic growth in the region.
Hauliers and car owners will be urged to back the campaign by adorning their vehicles with blue ribbons and stickers to represent the blue line of a motorway on a road map.
The shopping list of demands is being presented to ministers by the North-East Chamber of Commerce on Monday as negotiations on departmental budgets continue ahead of this summer's spending review.
Key plank
Transport and Regions Secretary Stephen Byers is battling for additional cash for road and rail improvements but Chancellor Gordon Brown has made clear the NHS is his number one priority.
Other improvements called for include the reopening of the South-East Northumberland passenger rail line, better links to Teesside International Airport and the early construction of the second Tyne Tunnel.
The campaign follows dismay over a Government-backed feasibility study which rejected the dualling of the A1 in Northumberland, seen as a key plank in the region's development.
Newcastle to London is considered the key element in the latest bid by North-East business chiefs to boost the region's transport infrastructure.
At the moment, the M1 from London runs only as far as the A1 north-east of Leeds, hampering economic growth further north and contributing to a sense of ‘peripherality’ in the North-East.
Extending the motorway as far as Tyneside would allow goods to reach the capital, the South-East and the Channel ports faster, thereby opening up European markets for local firms.
Putting the North-East on the motorway map would also make the region more attractive to inward investors while reducing congestion.
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