All the rattling of cages is reaping its rewards

After decades of being overlooked and not getting our fair share, the Peak Partnership, announced last week, has the potential to be a real game changer for High Peak.

I was honoured to be able to bring together Claire Ward, the East Midlands Mayor, Andy Burnham, the Mayor for Greater Manchester and Oliver Coppard, the Mayor for South Yorkshire, in Buxton to launch the Peak Partnership.

It has taken a huge effort to get us to this point. I’ve had to rattle a few cages along the way but it was worth it because for the first time in generations it has got people talking about High Peak and the issues that matter to us – better road and rail connections, growing our tourism sector in a sustainable way and other cross-border issues such as health and education.

We have already seen the difference partnership working can make through our campaign to get free bus travel for our young people who want to go to college in Greater Manchester. Saving their families hundreds of pounds a year. And I’m delighted that the young people who got their GCSE results last week will be able to benefit from this scheme again in the coming new academic year.

It was agreed at the summit last week that the initial focus of the Peak Partnership will be improving transport connectivity and economic growth, with a particular focus on sustainable tourism. The Peak Partnership will give us the force of having three Mayors, collectively representing over 7 million people, to lobby national government on issues like making the Woodhead Pass and Snake Pass critical national infrastructure, delivering greater capacity on the Hope Valley line and, something I am personally excited about, the potential for a continuous cycle route between Manchester and Sheffield.

Improved connectivity will also provide us with the opportunity to grow our tourism sector in a sustainable way, reducing the impact of parking and other issues that many of our communities have been facing. For example, the vast majority of people that visit High Peak stay for less than a day but if we can make our area easier to access by public transport, we could see massive economic benefits – if just 5% of tourists stay overnight, then it would add £1 billion to our local economy.

After years of feeling like we are on the edge of everywhere, the Peak Partnership has the potential to put us at the heart of the three regions working together in our shared interests.