Inventing our future Collective action for a sustainable economy

What do we
need to change?
Transport
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In taking forward specific scheme proposals to address the development
needs of these corridors, regional partners will need to rigorously test the
economic impacts of schemes using a consistent evidence base and
appraisal methodology. This will be necessary to establish priorities and
strong business cases for regional, national and EU investment.
The East of England Implementation Plan will publish specific transport
priorities for economic growth, based on the results of the Transport
Economic Evidence Study and sub-regional work including Integrated
Development Programmes. This evidence will quantify the cost of existing
constraints on the transport network to the economy, and identify those
parts of the network where constraints are holding back economic
growth. The subsequent identification of evidence-based solutions to the
most severe constraints will form the small set of economic transport
priorities most critical to the development of prosperity.
The region must find and agree new and innovative methods of funding,
to ensure that the East of England can develop the transport infrastructure
that it needs to support a world-class economy. This should include
different models for public/private funding and rolling infrastructure funds,
such as a Regional Infrastructure Fund, which should be fully developed
and implemented within the early years of the RES.
Priority 3:
Increasing economic benefit to the East of England from major
international gateways
The East of England has a distinctive role as the UK’s gateway to global
markets. Our ports currently account for 53 per cent of UK container
capacity and more than 20 per cent of the UK port employment. With the
planned expansions at Felixstowe South, Bathside Bay and London
Gateway, this will rise to over 70 per cent of the UK’s container capacity.
Forecast growth in demand for aviation remains strong. International
gateways provide significant employment, are hubs of wider economic
activity and are vital to international trade and collaboration – the
primary driver of global economic growth. The Channel Tunnel Rail Link to
St Pancras gives the region easy access to Europe’s high-speed rail network.
Our major international airports and ports are of national economic
importance, and decisions to increase capacity will be taken nationally.
The principal roles of regional decision makers are to realise the economic
benefits for local areas and the region from expansion, whilst addressing
and mitigating global and local environmental impacts.
Proposals to develop gateways in the East of England will have significant
benefits for the regional and national economy. GVA per employee is
higher for the transport gateway sectors than the regional average. Work
for the RES evidence base has predicted that, by 2030, between 115,000
and 131,000 direct, indirect and induced jobs would result from gatewayrelated
activity if national government policy on gateway development is
implemented. This would mean that transport gateways could account
for between 4 and 5 per cent of total GVA, an increasing proportion of the
regional economy. If a second runway is not developed at Stansted,