Research 350 - NZ Transport Agency

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT BENEFITS OF TRANSPORT INVESTMENT
4.2.3.1 Banister and Berechman citations
• Linneker and Spence (1996) used multiple regression analysis to asses the economic
impacts of the M25 ring road around London, completed in 1986. They found that
areas with high accessibility, relative to others, lost employment. Proximity to centres
of high population densities produced the poorest employment performance while the
London region performed better than other locations. Banister and Berechman (2000a,
pp.244-245). In reviewing these results Banister and Berechman noted that improved
physical accessibility, as measured by Linneker and Spence was only one measure of
activity. Improved access could allow local firms to expand market area and
employment and/or allow expansion of firms outside the region into newly accessible
locations.
• Gould’s (1987) study of planning applications for retail development in the area of the
M25 included retailer survey work. This indicated that over 75% of retailers did not
view proximity to the M25 as important. However many of these were for
establishments such as smaller supermarkets, whose convenience-oriented customers
would generally not travel more then 10 minutes by car in any case. In contrast, larger
regional shopping centres and warehouses (accounting for 45% of the floor space in
the survey) indicated that M25 access was very important (Banister and Berechman
2000a, pp. 246-247). Thus the M25 had an important role in enlarging the catchment
area for larger establishments, but not for smaller ones 22 .
• Bannister and Berechman also note the example of the Amsterdam orbital motorway,
competed in 1990. This runs some 5 km from the city centre. They suggest that the
Ottoway reinforced the position of locations already in a strong competitive position.
They also note mixed evidence provided by Bruinsma et al’s (1996) study of the
orbital. Qualitative work indicated that office rents in areas affected by the motorway
increased by much less then in areas not affected by it. However, regression analysis
found that rents at motorway junctions were 10% higher than those 1 km away and
that the motorway was an important location factor for firms – though not the only one
(Banister and Berechman 2000a, pp. 251-253).
• Other Dutch studies, during the 1990’s (Rienstra et al 1998; Reitveld and Brunisma
1996) analysed road investment over the whole of the Netherlands These provided no
clear or consistent evidence of the impact on employment in regions resulting from
new patterns of accessibility. However, this finding may, in part be due to the need to
adopt a lower level of spatial disaggregation (Banister and Berechman 2000a, p. 253).
• The Buffalo Light Rapid Rail Transit System (LRRT), completed in 1982 was targeted at
revitalising the city’s urban core and stimulating public and private investment in the
CBD. Nonetheless, after completion of the line, the city suffered a major loss of
employment, particularly in heavy manufacturing. Banister and Berechman note that
the project’s success was mitigated by factors such a lack of retail incentives to lure
22 Banister and Berechman also note that political, market and institutional factors played a key role in
shaping the pattern of development and in determining the M25’s regional economic growth effects.
These factors include a strong initial growth in planning applications backed by political support which
was then tempered by such factors as the decline in the UK property market in the late 1980’s/early
1990’s and a desire to maintain a ‘green belt’ around London. One consequence of the latter is that
much development has taken place further away from the M25, beyond the green belt. They use this and
the other case studies cited above (Banister and Berechman 2000a, pp. 247-249).
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