Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of basing the Northern Transport Acceleration Council in the north of England.

The Department has established the Northern Transport Acceleration Council, an advisory forum to progress and unblock existing priority transport projects, to speed up the delivery of vital infrastructure projects and connect communities across the North’s towns and cities. It has successfully brought together leaders from across the north of England to meet and engage with Ministers.

Given the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, meetings have so far been held online. However, we look forward to engaging with leaders in the North in person as soon as it is safe to do so.

The council is supported by a small secretariat team of officials based in the North. They work alongside regionally based area leads and DfT’s Acceleration Unit to connect with local transport authorities and northern leaders.