There is a stark north-south divide in our economy. The latest figures show that 129,000 extra people are in work in London and the south-east compared to a year ago, while in the north of England 74,000 fewer are in work.
 
The divide is no less stark in transport investment – which has consistently lagged behind in Yorkshire and across the north. It presently stands at £802 per head in London compared to just £272 in Yorkshire. Defending these figures, the government will undoubtedly point to the amount of passengers travelling in London and the promise of high speed rail, which has been marked out as ‘a once in a generation opportunity to transform Britain’s transport infrastructure’ by Philip Hammond, secretary of state for transport. 
 
In London there is a rapid transformation going on at the major transport hubs that take commuters and tourists in and out of the city every day.
 
The striking ring of grand stations circling the city are undergoing a major facelift, with new features for commuters being done in a way that ensures that they are at the heart of modern transport infrastructure.
 
The facelifts have been described as a ‘great railway station renaissance’, with major work to stations from King’s Cross to Waterloo. The results can be spectacular: St Pancras station is an awe-inspiring example of that.
 
The work under way at King’s Cross – the hub for the East Coast Mainline – is an exciting project to merge the station’s oldest features with modern needs. The end of a two and a half hour journey from Leeds to London will no doubt be made sweeter by a grand finale at a revamped station.
 
The economic benefits will be felt by Londoners too – London’s Evening Standard noted last week that ‘costly they may be, but the value of such transformational schemes must not be forgotten even when money is short.’
 
And costly they are. St Pancras cost £800m, King’s Cross is projected to cost £400m. It doesn’t stop there: £1bn is being spent making Tottenham Court Road ready for Crossrail: a brand new line linking east and west through London’s heart.
 
It is the developments taking place around the stations that make sure the investments are worthwhile. The Eurostar terminal has brought Europe closer; the Midland Hotel has been restored to its former glory; Crossrail will transform commuter travel; and the King’s Cross plans also feature significant private investment around the station. 
 
Those lessons must be put into practice in Yorkshire if High Speed Rail is going to be a success.
 
When the line is finally built, London will be just 80 minutes away from Leeds – whereas now it is quicker for someone to get to Brussels from the capital. But what about people in Hull, Harrogate, or even Horsforth? What about investors looking to relocate to the edge of our cities? To achieve the best results in terms of inward investment and commuting times, a vision of infrastructure allied to high speed rail needs to be mapped out – within and around Yorkshire’s cities – not just between north and south.
 
But government support for schemes seems to be fleeting, and continues to recede into the distance. Leeds station’s southern entrance got the go-ahead from government at a cost of £12.4m to improve access to the offices and apartments to the south of the station.
 
But other projects that have support from the government are still in limbo – despite often having the enthusiastic and constructive support of local councils and transport authorities – even when budgets are stretched. In Yorkshire alone there are nine schemes in the process – competing nationally with 36 others for £630m of funding. These include new carriages for Sheffield Supertram, the White Rose way at Doncaster, Access Park and Ride in York and two new stations in Leeds.
 
These investments obviously cost money, but not on the same scale as that being spent in London. The 45 projects competing across the country are vying for less than two thirds of what is being invested in a single tube station in London.
 
At a time when we need to rebalance the economy, this is spending that should be seriously considered, and spending that could ensure that High Speed Rail is as valuable as it can be.
 
I look forward to disembarking at King’s Cross in spectacular surroundings, especially if it is only 80 minutes away. But if Yorkshire is really going to see the benefits of high speed rail, it will take more than nice entrances and vague promises. It will need the funding and support to make local transport plans a reality.  
 
Nicholas Quin is a parliamentary researcher

Photo: James Holden