On 13th August, the Eastern Powerhouse wrote to the Secretary of State for Transport, The Rt Hon Louise Haigh MP, making the case for the much needed railway upgrades in our region. You can read the full text below:
Dear Secretary of State,
RE: Railway upgrades in the East of England
The Eastern Powerhouse is an independent, business-led, membership body that represents the entire East of England. Our members include private sector business, utilities, education providers, and local authorities. Our core mission is to promote the region's assets and unlock growth opportunities for investment.
We have actively campaigned for upgrades to the railway at Ely North Junction and Haughley Junction in Suffolk. Delay at Ely negatively impacts on travellers from Norwich, Ipswich, Cambridge, Peterborough and King's Lynn, as well as freight services to and from Felixstowe. Almost every rail user in the east will have journey times lengthened because of the bottleneck at Ely. We had previously won the support of your predecessor for what is the most important transport initiative for growth in the region. The Eastern Powerhouse hopes that the Ely Area Enhancements will remain part of the scheduled upgrades by your department.
We have also been working with local authorities to find suitable locations where land around railway stations could be developed to create business hubs. We have identified a number of projects in the region, and these have been presented to Network Rail. We are very keen to see them advanced.
By transforming land around stations into business hubs, both areas of rural and urban deprivation can be tackled successfully. The Eastern Powerhouse is poised to help local authorities in our region use the railway to bring economic growth to their residents and we hope that you will see the potential that regeneration around stations offers to our largely rural region.
We would be delighted to discuss these projects with you or representatives from your Department and we feel that they resonate with the ambitions of your new government.
Yours sincerely,
James Palmer
Chair
Eastern Powerhouse