While we do not yet know the full economic impact of this coronavirus crisis, one thing is clear – we must prepare for a serious and potentially sustained period of economic hardship. While I am very keen to see us start to open our economy again, we should also not lose sight of the long-term needs of our area.
This week in the House of Commons, I spoke of the need to stimulate our economy by boosting local transport infrastructure investment which will create jobs and help improve Lincolnshire’s ability to attract investment and businesses over the long term.
Last week, I was delighted to see that the government announced a fresh boost in funding for our local roads across the county. The extra £54 million will be used by our county council to fix potholes, resurface and improve our roads. This is part of a new £1.7 bn investment across the country and will certainly go some way to help repair and maintain the national road network while fewer passengers are using the transport system.
However, I believe we must go much further when it comes to infrastructure investment, especially in rural counties like ours. Time and again, infrastructure projects have shown to be an excellent way to increase economic activity by helping our businesses hire more people, our manufacturers to transport goods quicker and easier, and our people to find work more easily. Well planned infrastructure investment can not only transform how we all live and work, but also bring benefits to those areas which have previously been left behind.
This is the so-called ‘levelling up’ agenda, bringing more investment to the Midlands and North, rather than the South East and London. This is going to be critical in the years ahead, so I am pressing the government to continue with its pre-coronavirus planned spending increases on transport, broadband and energy outside of London.
For decades there has been insufficient investment in rural infrastructure; this has caused an imbalance in our national economic output and in turn has left many of our communities disconnected both physically and digitally. As the economic toll this coronavirus has caused intensifies, a swift and substantial boost in infrastructure spending will help us build our way out of the crisis to reboot our local economy.
Stamford Mercury
