THE first thing you notice reading the 35-page One North report published this week is how few mentions there are for this particular corner of the North.
The £15bn, 15-year vision for improved transport links across the North of England has been developed by an alliance of five cities – Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle and Sheffield.
More precisely, it has been drawn up by five city-regions, an emerging network of large city councils teaming up with neighbouring smaller councils to form more powerful lobbying bodies.
The Hull and Humber city-region was officially given the green light last December when cities minister Greg Clark approved the region's City Deal.
But you wouldn't know it from a browse through the One North report.
For a start, it's signed by the four council leaders from Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle and Sheffield as well as Liverpool's directly-elected mayor Joe Anderson.
It also heavily focuses on transport issues surrounding those five cities.
True, there is the odd reference to the Humber ports.
There is also a fascinating comparison between the 69-minute train journey passengers currently enjoy on the 95-mile route between London and Chippenham and the one hour 53 minute endurance test train passengers experience when travelling the same distance between Hull and Manchester.
However, for the most part Hull and the Humber are largely absent.
City council leader Steve Brady was present at Tuesday's launch of the report in Manchester and attempted to shift the focus back to this end of the M62.
He said: "To ensure that Hull and the Humber are properly connected into the national transport network – for passengers and freight – it is essential that Hull and the Humber's transport bottlenecks and failings are addressed.
"This is why I welcome the One North campaign, as it is imperative that our potential to contribute to the economic growth of the North is recognised and, indeed, utilised.
"We need to make the most of the relatively uncongested Humber Estuary, which is Europe's fourth largest ports complex and offers important advantages to the UK as a whole in relieving the congested South East and the North in particular, providing a direct trading route to Northern Europe.
"With the development of a substantial offshore wind turbine manufacturing and maintenance operation out of Hull, as well as the Humber ports' connections to Northern European and the Baltic States, I have offered colleagues in One North the opportunity to hold a future meeting of the group here in Hull.
"This would provide an excellent opportunity to highlight Hull's integral role in the development of the northern economies."
While championing greater connectivity between his city and Manchester, Liverpool mayor Mr Johnson also spoke about the need to be able to efficiently shift freight being landed on Merseyside.
"We want the capacity and ability to ship that freight further north, east and across to Hull and the Humber," he said.
So why no sight of a signature from Cllr Brady on the report?
The answer, perhaps, lies in the uncertain early days of the Hull and Humber city-region.
Last December it was hailed as "a huge breakthrough" by the cities minister.
In David Cameron's recent cabinet reshuffle, Mr Clark was given extra duties as minister for science and universities.
Widely admired by local councillors from across the political divide, he is likely to have less time on his hands to monitor the progress of the Hull and Humber city-region.
That could be bad news for those hoping for the area to start punching its weight with the big boys of the North.
So far, the early optimism behind the City Deal has faded, with a distinct lack of action on the ground.
Currently, politicians in Hull and the East Riding appear more preoccupied with the boundary line between the two authorities than bigger regional issues.
That point was not lost on former city council leader Colin Inglis in a posting on the Mail's website.
He, of course, is leading on the city council's case for a review of the structure of local government across East Yorkshire, including that possible redrawing of the boundaries.
He said: "Newcastle has been very busy trying to push us out of it, on the grounds that we are not big enough to count. It's the same old argument – Hull is only 250,000 people, when we all know Greater Hull is 500,000 or more."
North-South divide not just restricted to transport, new study findsTHE North-South divide is not just restricted to transport, according to a new study published today.
Research by the IPPR North think-tank confirms London receives more public spend- ing per head on infrastructure than any other English region.
The analysis shows:
£5,426 per head is spent in London compared with just £581 per head in Yorkshire and the Humber.
The gap is even wider in the North East, where just £223 per head is spent.
The report says the regional imbalances in infrastructure spending are the result of London having big, high- value projects, such as Crossrail, Thameslink.
The average value of a project in London is more than £1.2bn.
Set that against the £160m allocated for improvement work on Castle Street in Hull.
The think-tank is currently running a competition to find new projects that address existing and future infrastructure needs of the North of England. The Great North Plan competition is looking for ideas to rival major infrastructure schemes that currently exist in London and the South East.
The competition will be open to people aged 25 or under and there will be a £1,000 prize for the winning entry.
IPPR North director Ed Cox said: "Effective infrastructure is the bedrock of an effective and efficient economy. "Transport connections, flood defences and high-speed broadband networks all allow people and goods to move quickly from place to place and for business to flourish.
"It is widely recognised that the North of England loses out as government spending on infrastructure is continuously skewed towards London.
"This is why we have launched the Great North Plan competition, through which we hope to identify a small number of large-scale infrastructure projects that could have a transformative effect on the northern, and national, economy."
