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22 Connecting EnglandLeeds or from Birmingham to Bristol, for example, are predicted to increase by about 14 percent between 2002 and 2006. The current forecasts are that road congestion will continue toincrease with journey times, with speeds falling significantly over the next 15 years.The same issues apply to England’s external connections. The national airports strategy, set out inthe recent Airports White Paper, has been fiercely criticised for its heavy emphasis on extendingthe capacity of the London airports compared with modest proposals for the regions. But thereare equally critical capacity issues at deep-sea container ports, which are diverting trade tocontinental ports like Le Havre and Hamburg, thus making the goods we buy more expensive.There is, however, no equivalent national ports strategy.These problems reinforce the regional divisions in England. The far South West and the northerncities are beset by poor communications both internally and between the North and South orEast and West (in the case of cross-Pennine routes), and are not well connected to London. Thisraises concern that the competitiveness of the regions will be inhibited and the regionaleconomic strategies will fail owing to poor infrastructure and connectivity. This is in stark contrastto mainland Europe, where the gap between capitals and other cities is far less pronounced –arguably because much stronger steps have been taken, at a policy level nationally, to create alevel economic playing field by investing substantially in communications. Such cities, it shouldbe acknowledged, also enjoy substantial freedoms, fiscally and politically, to compete effectivelyacross Europe.