New Anglia Transport Board

Connecting the East, Accessing the World

Meeting Note

9.00am, 6th September 2021 - Teams

In attendance:

Paul Ager Associated British Ports

Karen Chapman Suffolk Growth

Ali Clabburn Liftshare

David Cumming Norfolk County Council

Paul Davey Hutchison Ports

Jonathan Denby Greater Anglia

Nova Fairbank Norfolk Chambers of Commerce

Marie Finbow New Anglia LEP

Richard Gapper Federation of Small Businesses

Ellen Goodwin New Anglia LEP

Andrew Hudson Network Rail

Alan Kirkdale National Highways

Graeme Mateer Suffolk County Council

Andrew Mower Federation of Small Businesses

Richard Pace Norwich Airport

Richard Perkins Suffolk Chamber of Commerce

Jonathan Rudd New Anglia LEP

Cllr Philip Smart Suffolk District Councils

Chris Soule CLA

Andrew Summers Transport East

Esme Yuill Transport East

Observers:

Lewis Boudville East Suffolk Council

Apologies:

Kerry Allen Suffolk County Council

Mark Ash Suffolk County Council

Andrew Harston Associated British Ports

James Bradley Network Rail

Jamie Burles Greater Anglia

Patrick Ladbury GT Railway

Paul Martin First Buses

Cllr Graham Plant Norfolk District Councils

Cllr Richard Smith MVO Suffolk County Council

Andy Walker Suffolk Chamber of Commerce

Cllr Martin Wilby Norfolk County Council

Minutes and matters arising

The minutes of the last meeting were agreed, and all actions were either complete or

covered by the agenda.

Richard Pace highlighted the ongoing debate on Airport Passenger Duty and Norwich

Airport’s work on Airport Carbon Accreditation benchmarking.

First Bus/ Liftshare collaboration

ACTION – deferred until next time

Norfolk and Suffolk Renewal Plan including clean growth update

Ellen Goodwin presented on the Renewal Plan and on clean growth.

Comments included:

 Rail: need to include service aspirations as well infrastructure improvements. Also,

rail electrification needs to be considered as well as hydrogen. Rail freight is critical

to our region and to the nation’s ‘levelling up’ agenda. If we refer to this in a more

strategic manner i.e. Felixstowe to Midlands and North it will likely gain more traction.

 The importance of all connectivity, particularly digital.

 The criticality of delivery timescales was picked up.

 Demand data was also highlighted as a key avenue to explore.

 Rural/coastal mobility was picked up as an area which needed further exploration for

inclusion moving forward.

The outputs of the session will be documented and fed into the process of developing the

Renewal Plan.

Transport East Update

Draft Strategy

Andrew Summers updated the Board on the ongoing work on Transport East’s Strategy

highlighting the importance of Levelling Up, Global Britain, Decarbonisation and a user

centric approach. He highlighted how this year had seen every mode and theme in the

transport sector moved on in terms of policy in light of these considerations. Finally, he

stated how critical DfT felt a ‘single voice’ was in terms of strategy and investment moving

forward. The Strategy is due to be completed around the turn of the year.

Comprehensive Spending Review

Esme Yuill updated the Board on Transport East’s approach to the Comprehensive

Spending Review. She stated that STBs will be working together on shared priorities such

as the Ely Area Capacity Enhancement. The importance of ‘no regrets’ investment was

noted with respect to the Haughley rail junction. The Board also noted the criticality of

highway maintenance despite complexities.

Freeport East

Paul Davey updated the Board on the progress of Freeport East:

 The Freeport East partners, led by East Suffolk Council and Hutchison Ports are

completing the Outline Business Case (OBC)

 The OBC was agreed in principle by the Freeport East board on 3 September and

will be submitted to MHCLG on 10 September

 Work on the Full Business Case (FBC) will follow submission of the OBC

 The current deadline for FBC submission is 10 December

 Freeport East has 3 combined tax/customs sites and 4 customs-only site

 Formal approval of the first tax and customs sites will proceed in parallel with FBC

preparation

 Freeports will need an approved OBC and at least one approved tax site and one

approved customs site to be formally designated by Government

North Anglia Study

Andrew Hudson updated the Board on the progress of Network Rail’s North Anglia Study.

He outlined how Suffolk would be taken forward first given the progress of projects in the

County, but concern was expressed with respect to what that meant for projects in Norfolk.

He noted that Trowse was being taken forward by the Business Development Team and that

East West Rail would likely be picked up by future modules too. It was noted that the map

ought to include a link from Cambridge to Oxford.

Forward plan

ACTION – all to consider an in-person meeting and feedback accordingly.

AOB

Chris Soule highlighted maintenance signage concerns on the A143 between Diss and

Lowestoft.

ACTION – NCC and SCC to take back to their appropriate teams