Chancellor’s Investment in Transport: What will it mean for supply chains and warehousing?

The government considers transport to be critical to the delivery of its growth mission. In the recent Spending Review the government committed £15.6 billion by 2031-32 for some of England’s largest city regions. This will include funding for local rail in Liverpool and Newcastle; trams in Birmingham and Manchester; and transport infrastructure improvements in Teesside.

Separately, the government will also provide £3.5bn for the TransPennine Route Upgrade and £2.5bn to ensure the continued delivery of East West Rail, connecting Oxford and Cambridge. There will also be almost £500m for rail in Wales over the next 10 years.

This investment will allow more people to travel to work via public transport, taking cars off the road and thus reducing traffic delays for HGV vehicles heading to and from warehouses.

New railways will also encourage the growth of rail freight, supporting the decarbonisation of our sector.

And of course, warehouses and the wider supply chain will be crucial to support the building of these new railway lines and wider transport infrastructure improvements. This is something the government seems to appreciate. Earlier this month, Department for Transport Minister Lilian Greenwood described logistics as an “unstoppable force for economic growth” and that our sector “lies at the heart of [the] government’s plan for change”.

We will wait to see if these words are reflected in the substance of the government’s industrial strategy, the consultation of which the UKWA responded to, that will be published in late June.