CEO of The Northern Powerhouse joins Future Cities Forum's 'Infrastructure 2026' forum

Image: courtesy of The Northern Powerhouse Partnership

Future Cities Forum is delighted that Henri Murison, CEO of The Northern Powerhouse Partnership will be contributing to our 'Infrastructure 2026' forum this April.

The ambition of The Northern Powerhouse Partnership is to transform the Northern economy, unlocking up to £100 billion by 2050 and creating 850,000 more jobs. Part of this will come through improved infrastructure in the region.

The UK government has just published its third Road Investment Strategy (RIS3). Backed by over £27 billion of investment over 5 years, saying this will support our drive to deliver the biggest overhaul to transport in a generation.

In the North, the strategy commits over £4.4 billion to key enhancement and renewal schemes. This will support the government’s Northern Growth Strategy and complement investment across other modes such as Northern Powerhouse Rail. Enhancement schemes include upgrades to the A66 Northern Trans‑Pennine route, which plays an essential role in connecting people and places across the North and is critical for freight and links to international ports.

The Government states:

'The RIS3 investment delivers on the government’s ambition to kickstart economic growth, supporting living standards and jobs. The roads which form our Strategic Road Network are the key economic arteries which keep people and goods moving throughout the country. Keeping them flowing supports mobility and jobs, and helps to boost essential sectors like manufacturing, construction and retail. Overall, RIS3 is expected to support tens of thousands of jobs, bolstering supply chains across the nation and helping British businesses.

'The Strategic Road Network is a critical national asset, and our priority is to ensure that it remains a network which people and businesses can rely on for decades to come. RIS3 therefore includes an unprecedented £8.4 billion of investment in renewals to strengthen the performance and long‑term resilience of the network through replacing structures and worn‑out road surfaces, as well as modernising roadside technology to support safe, smooth journeys.

'It also includes £3.8 billion of targeted enhancements to tackle pinch points and unlock national, regional, and local economic growth and housing opportunities. These improvements will benefit the whole economy, tackling capacity issues as well as improving safety and journey time reliability.

'The Midlands is at the heart of the country’s connectivity, and investment to upgrade the A46 at Newark will support sectors such as logistics and manufacturing which are dominant in the local economy and reliant on roads for growth, as well as improving access to Humber ports.

'Elsewhere, the Lower Thames Crossing will be the most significant road‑building scheme in a generation. It will provide a significant boost to the UK economy, easing congestion at the Dartford Crossing, strengthening connectivity across the UK to major ports, and improving resilience and reliability for all road users.

'RIS3 will contribute to the ambitions set out in the recently published Road Safety Strategy to reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured on roads across Great Britain. It includes a Safety National Programme to deliver targeted safety improvements on major A roads with poor safety performance such as the A1 between Morpeth and Scotland; and it sets National Highways a stretching target to reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured on its roads.

'It also includes a Small Schemes National Programme aimed at reducing congestion to unlock economic growth; and a new Growth and Housing Accelerator Fund to help unlock development sites where infrastructure is currently a constraint.

It balances the requirements of the network with our obligations to the environment, and includes programmes to improve water quality, reduce noise exposure and support biodiversity, as well as to tackle air quality issues on the network. It includes a performance indicator for National Highways on litter collection, and includes a commitment to explore options to give National Highways new powers as a litter enforcement authority when Parliamentary time permits.'