Mind the Gap - Transport Infrastructure

In late July my local council announced that a new railway station was to be built near Peterlee in County Durham. The station, serving the town of Horden, is estimated to cost £10.55 million with just under half of this money coming from central government. This is a regional example of an infrastructure project and is certainly something that I shall be incorporating into future lessons.

Whilst the above will no doubt bring benefits to the regional economy, such as improved labour mobility and regeneration, there is a stark contrast between spending in the North and South.

This chart from a recent Economist article demonstrates the gulf:

The article also contains insight from Paul Swinney (who visited our centre as part of the Speakers for Schools programme) which suggests that the gap between regional spending whilst being unequal might not necessarily be unfair.

The piece could be used as part of an 'equity vs equality' debate when evaluating potential reasons for differences in spending on infrastructure projects.