No money for projects outside of London

Firegod

Firegod

Firegod

Soldato
Joined
12 Sep 2003
Posts
10,709
Location
Newcastle, UK
Is it just me or do we seem to still have a North / South divide when it comes to infrastructure projects?

The dualing of the A1 here up North, scraped. High speed rail, scraped. And Newcastle in particular, struggling to get final 6 million funding sign off for Tyne Bridge restoration. An iconic landmark.

Turn to London. We've got new talk about a third runway at Heathrow. Potentially costing billions. Millennium bridge refurbishment, signed off. But remember we apparently have a 22 billion black hole.

Why is money available for London but not the North. Just a few years ago money for the North was taken to fix pot holes in London but Labour led the backlash at the time. It seems like whoever governs, the North is ignored.

What are your thoughts on this? Might not be the North, but perhaps in your area, you have read about London trumping a project. Be interesting to hear.

It really needs to stop. Wealth should be spread evenly.
 
I don't think it is just North more a London (and maybe a small number of other high density urban areas) vs the rest - down where I am in the South West the last few years money seems to have vanished not helped by the councils spanking what there is up the wall far too often on vanity projects or hopeless "rejuvenation" schemes, etc.

In fact it is starting to feel like living in a 3rd world country - services vanishing or increasingly less reliable, emergency services struggling, roads increasingly like the surface of the moon, improvement projects cancelled, etc. etc.
 
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Rroff said:
I don't think it is just North more a London (and maybe a small number of other high density urban areas) vs the rest - down where I am in the South West the last few years money seems to have vanished not helped by the councils spanking what there is up the wall far too often on vanity projects or hopeless "rejuvenation" schemes, etc.
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I agree. Just going off what I know from being in Newcastle. I think if you are not London, your missing out in general. It is frustrating to see money being moved away from vital projects. Especially connectivity projects. Road and rail in my example.
 
Going to echo what rroff said it seems to be London then the rest of us. We are all in this mess together and no money seems to be getting spent of public services/transport/spaces around my area in the last 10 years of not longer
 
Firegod said:
I agree. Just going off what I know from being in Newcastle. I think if you are not London, your missing out in general. It is frustrating to see money being moved away from vital projects. Especially connectivity projects. Road and rail in my example.
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I think generally the wealth just isn't there any more and the North is probably one of the first to suffer.
 
Finners said:
Going to echo what rroff said it seems to be London then the rest of us. We are all in this mess together and no money seems to be getting spent of public services/transport/spaces around my area in the last 10 years of not longer
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Sad to hear. What area are you in / near? Normally labour is something Northern folk go for but I'm struggling to see any investment.
 
Rroff said:
I think generally the wealth just isn't there any more and the North is probably one of the first to suffer.
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There was hope for British Volt recently promising thousands of jobs as well in Blyth up North. Classed as levelling up. Went into administration sadly. That would have been something great for UK and battery production.
 
Probably a little controversial but I travel to London fairly often for work and, I get it. All the action is down there in terms of the economy, it feels like travelling to a different country in all honesty. If they can get people into and out of London more quickly, it'll boost the economy way quicker than anything they'd do up here.
 
Firegod said:
There was hope for British Volt recently promising thousands of jobs as well in Blyth up North. Classed as levelling up. Went into administration sadly. That would have been something great for UK and battery production.
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Sadly I can't find, or it got deleted, my old post on that company, it was only ever going to go one way with the history of some of the people behind it.
 
Rroff said:
In fact it is starting to feel like living in a 3rd world country - services vanishing or increasingly less reliable, emergency services struggling, roads increasingly like the surface of the moon, improvement projects cancelled, etc. etc.
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My parents often used to say this to me and I would laugh. But now, I actually start to believe them.
 
The north has been completely abandoned. What doesn't help is too many vanity projects squandering what little funding we do receive.
 
Worthy said:
Probably a little controversial but I travel to London fairly often for work and, I get it. All the action is down there in terms of the economy, it feels like travelling to a different country in all honesty. If they can get people into and out of London more quickly, it'll boost the economy way quicker than anything they'd do up here.
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If it were to the benefit of the country I might be like, go for it, spend the money, but it sadly never seems to leave London.
 
Dis86 said:
The north has been completely abandoned. What doesn't help is too many vanity projects squandering what little funding we do receive.
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Agree. The main flyover being shut between Gateshead and Newcastle because it has fell into disrepair says it all. And what do they want to replace it with. A boulevard!
 
Firegod said:
Agree. The main flyover being shut between Gateshead and Newcastle because it has fell into disrepair says it all. And what do they want to replace it with. A boulevard!
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Blyths new cinema/community hub is another example. Simply not needed. Cinemas are closing all over the place and there's one in cramlington. Instead of spending money on much needed infrastructure in SE Northumberland they spent it on that.
 
Part of the reason might be the sheer amount of money in London makes it easier finance projects. We likely get more money per head than most of the UK, but overall this country sucks at infrastructure and building. Stuff like the Heathrow expansion going ahead is because London is falling behind other capital cities and hubs. Crossrail can look like london getting more and more but that was proposed well over 50 years ago, and its taken all this time for someone to think it might be worth building a line that traverses the city. Meanwhile go look at the
Grand Paris Express project which makes crossrail look minor in comparison.

In London the roads are crap, the trains are overcrowded and falling apart, and the high streets are just as miserable. High speed rail was being cut back in London too, not just the north. Hammersmith bridge has been closed for years because there's no money to make it safe for motor traffic. The Bakerloo line now has the oldest trains in service in the UK with plans for a replacement being held back by lack of funds.

Everywhere needs major investment and building, it's not a north/south thing its a UK thing.
 
explicit4u said:
Everywhere needs major investment and building, it's not a north/south thing its a UK thing.
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perhaps ... but the fact still remains what investment there is does seem to be disproportionately made in London.
yes perhaps you could argue that is because where most money is made but that is a chicken and egg problem. invest elsewhere and it will pay back.
 
henry hoov3r said:
Britain is a poor country attached to a rich city and it shows in the disparity in infrastructure across the country.
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True, the nearest train is a 40 minute drive from me and it goes about 28 mph. Talk about high speed rail, we have ultra slow speed rail since long before I was born and nothing has ever changed and there are no plans to upgrade anything.
 
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