At a recent conference with regional business leaders I explored what they want the government to do for us. The answer was 3 things: infrastructure, infrastructure, infrastructure. I agree and here follows a progress report.
Millions have been poured into making the Dawlish part of our rail-link more resilient. Millions more are about to be spent on making that iconic part of the journey more stable. Signalling and track upgrading is taking place throughout the network. We will be getting new trains throughout the course of 2018 which will deliver an increased capacity of around 25%. A new time table will schedule more fast trains to London and back.
We are urgently seeking money to carry out a study into discrete electrification – this is where the new bi-modal trains (ie both diesel and electric) can increase speed using electric power up a Devon hill, instead of relying on just diesel as now.
New ways of tackling on-board connectivity and being trialled and if successful could be used to deliver more consistent mobile phone connectivity on our trains before too long.
On roads, having just one major arterial road into our region is inadequate. Resources have now been dedicated to tackling the worst bottle neck on the A303, by commencing work on tunnelling around Stonehenge. Plans to dual this major route all the way into our region are being progressed. The M5 from Bristol to Taunton is becoming a major problem during 8 months of the year, especially on Fridays and discussions are underway about the possibility of adding an extra lane to that section of the motorway. The A30 from Exeter into Cornwall continues to receive attention.
The digital revolution is a game-changer, especially for far-flung places like ours. The internet is transforming our region. Now that people can do almost anything from almost anywhere, it is possible for the brightest and the best to live and work in the Great South West. Global connectivity. That is why the roll-out of superfast-broadband is even more important in our region than many, and why this is becoming a priority.
Right now 94% of our households have superfast-broadband, approaching the initial target of 95% by the end of this year. Much of our region enjoys 4G although there remain some stubborn not-spots. Because of the advances in digital technology this ball will never stop rolling. We need 5G as soon as possible and even faster superfast-broadband.
The battle continues.