Mayoral strategic authorities across England should use the HS2 workforce to strengthen their transport programmes as the rail project moves beyond peak construction activity, according to a report from Centre for Cities.
The think tank’s Licence to Build report says skills in engineering, construction and design could be redeployed to help deliver local infrastructure and retain expertise in the national workforce. Around 30,000 people currently work on HS2, according to the project’s careers website.
The latest government timetable expects the first HS2 trains between Old Oak Common and Birmingham Curzon Street to run between 2036 and 2039.
Capacity constraints
Mayoral strategic authorities, which bring councils together across wider areas, are responsible for issues including transport, adult skills, housing and economic development. Centre for Cities identified shortages in legal, procurement, finance and transport modelling capacity, warning that these constraints were particularly likely to affect complex, long-term transport projects.
“Central government still needs to actively build MSA capacity for transport delivery, focused on where skills currently lie,” the report says.
Its recommendations include placing specialists from Network Rail, National Highways and the Department for Transport within mayoral authorities, alongside a “significant uplift” in central government funding.
The report says the UK pays 23% more for road projects than peer countries and 93% more for rail and tram schemes. England added 95km of light rail and tram track between 2010 and 2024.
Devolution and delivery
Centre for Cities is also calling for mayors to become highway authorities for key route networks and to gain a larger role in approving local rail and tram schemes through the devolution of Transport and Works Act Orders.
It advocates a more rules-based planning system, with consultation and coordination with national bodies brought forward before applications are submitted. It also says schemes identified in local economic plans should be treated as having an established strategic need.
The report points to delays affecting proposed transport schemes in Leeds and the West Midlands. Leeds first proposed a 28km network in 2000; its latest attempt, launched in 2021, is now expected to open in the late 2030s after a government review required the business case to be revisited. The application for the West Midlands Metro Eastside extension took three years to prepare and ran to almost 6,000 pages, more than half of which comprised environmental assessment.
Andrew Carter, chief executive of Centre for Cities, said: “Faster and cheaper delivery of mass transit infrastructure should be a key test of government’s devolution plans.”
He added: “In more devolved nations like France, local government has greater fiscal autonomy, a streamlined planning process, stronger balance sheets and more capacity to manage big projects.”
Phil Clifton, chief executive of UK energy and major projects at Balfour Beatty, described devolution as a “huge opportunity” to unlock growth, but said cities also needed the funding, expertise and freedom to build.
“The key is making sure national priorities and local needs work together, so they get the most out of every pound spent,” he said.