Chancellor George Osborne vowed to prioritise new road building during his Budget speech in the Commons today.
He said the Government would provide Britain with the modern infrastructure it needed.
‘We’re the first British government to set out in a national infrastructure plan the projects we are going to prioritise in the coming decade,’ he said. ‘The roads, railways, clean energy and water, and broadband networks we need are all identified.’
He revealed a national roads strategy was underway and also supported a plan outlined on Monday by Prime Minister, David Cameron, to explore new ownership and financing models for the roads network to increase the role of private investment.
‘We want investment from British pension funds in British infrastructure,’ the chancellor said. ‘And we’re now working with a dozen of the largest pension schemes specifically on that.’
Mr Osborne committed £130m to the ‘northern hub’ rail scheme expansion, which will include further electrification of lines between Leeds and Manchester.
‘For years, transport investment in the north of England was neglected,’ he said. ‘Not under this Coalition Government.’
Belfast, Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle and London were confirmed as the UK cities to receive super-fast broadband.
