Member Article

Regional viewpoint: The benefits of joint campaigning

In recent years, one of the key issues upon which we have focussed ICE’s Public Voice in the North East has been the need for improved infrastructure and its potential value to the regional economy.

Ours is the only region to not have motorway links to other parts of the country, and plans for the new HS2 rail network see us once more out on something of a limb.

We do have a number of significant strengths, with ports and airports, the New Tyne Crossing and, despite the lack of a high speed rail plan, the East Coast Main Line and our position on the Trans Pennine route.

However, with the potential economic gains from improving our connectivity with the rest of the UK, it is worth risking a sore throat to continue raising our voice and keeping our region’s infrastructure needs aired.

In 2012, we decided it was time to amplify our voice further and we entered an infrastructure coalition with regional colleagues at the Association for Consultancy and Engineering (ACE) and the Civil Engineering Contractors’ Association (CECA).

As well as launching our joint report on infrastructure in February to influencers including MPs and the region’s Local Enterprise Partnerships, effectively announcing the working relationship, we have held combined events and shouted our message from the rooftops.

We further bolstered the case with our ICE regional publication ‘Growing it alone: supporting economic recovery through transport infrastructure’ issued to MPs, LEPs and regional influencers.

The strength in numbers and additional weight behind the voice has not gone unnoticed. So far, regional news coverage of our message has reached a readership significantly in excess of a million people and counting. Additionally, two MPs spoke at the partnership’s recent conference on the subject, which was chaired by one of the North East’s leading business journalists.

One of ICE’s main responsibilities is to provide a voice for civil engineering and the indications are that we are being heard. It is not just a numbers game; the right people are listening and engaging with our message. This message affects the whole region and our concerns are shared, so it is only right that we work together to ensure that they are heard and acted upon.

North East civil engineering companies employ 50,000 people, with a strong focus placed upon skills development, not only of the existing workforce, but also within schools, colleges and universities. We are in an excellent position to grow this workforce to meet the region’s needs and boost the economy on a number of fronts, but this cannot be done without drive from regional and national decision makers.

ICE North East is now feeding into an independent North East economic review launched by the North East Local Enterprise Partnership and chaired by Lord Andrew Adonis, former Secretary of State for Transport and Minister for Schools. We will also continue to develop a regional policy document on transport to consider how to ensure that the North East gets the transport infrastructure that it really needs to support economic recovery. When this is ready for publication, you can be sure that we will once more make ourselves hoarse getting that message out.

We will continue to shout; alone and jointly with our partners. We speak not only for civil engineers, but for what our industry and infrastructure mean to this region.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Penny Marshall .