TRANSPORT INVESTMENT AND DISADVANTAGED REGIONS - UK AND EUROPEAN POLICIES SINCE THE 1950S

This article outlines transport investment policies for older industrial regions with higher unemployment. It examines the motivation behind such policies and compares them with transport policies for other regions. The growth of political and economic competition between problem industrial regions and other regions of disadvantage or growth potential is emphasised. The principal conclusions are that transport policies should not be dominated by the topic of infrastructure investment; that neither inter-regional nor intra-regional transport investment will promote sustained growth in disadvantaged regions if other favourable conditions are lacking; and that a skewing of transport investment towards disadvantaged regions may improve their relative economic position if well integrated with other policies to promote change in the distribution between regions of population and productivity. An increasing role for private sector finance, rail investment and direct road pricing is anticipated within future policies for transport, regional development and environmental improvement.