The £600m bid for Metro Re-invigoration won cross-party support at the North East Economic Forum last week.
Addressing an audience of local business leaders and policy-makers, the Tory Leader David Cameron said that Metro renewal was one of a number of issues in the North East that ‘needed to be looked at urgently’.
The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Hazel Blears, and the Lib Dem Home Affairs Spokesman and leadership contender, Nick Clegg, also spoke at the event.
Ms Blears stressed that challenges still faced the Government in the North East while Mr Clegg said that one of the main priorities for the region was improved transport links. The PTA and Nexus submitted a detailed Business Case for Metro Re-invigoration to Government in January 2007. The Business Case for Metro Re-invigoration sets out the funding needs for Metro over the next 20 years, to operate, maintain and modernise the system. Without new investment Metro will decline and fail within the next decade, spilling 15 million more car journeys a year onto the region’s roads. After approving investment in new ticket technology last week, the Government has been asked to consider the Phase Two and Phase Three funding proposals. Phase Two, starting in 2010, would include modernisation of all Metro stations, the refurbishment of Metrocars, new communications systems, the overhaul of track and overhead lines and maintenance of structures dating back up to 160 years. Phase Three, from 2019, would see new trains and signal systems, among other modernisation projects.
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