We won't unlock a 21st century economy with 19th century transport and communications infrastructure. Woeful under-investment in infrastructure over the last 40 years has left too much of Britain already at gridlock at peak times. Our transport infrastructure reflects the imbalances in our national economy: too little long term investment, too much dependence on servicing unsustainable booms in the City, housing, public sector and retail and too little thinking about how we unlock new sources of sustainable economic growth. Infrastructure is crucial to a rebalanced economy at national, regaionl and local levels. Take my own area of East Anglia. Traditionally treated by successive Governments as a rural backwater for commuters and retirees, in fact East Anglia has the sciemce, technology and venture capital activity to be the California of the UK economy: driving the sustainable growth, businesses and jobs of tomorrow. By developing the biomedical science, cleantech and agri-environmnetal technologies in Cambridge and Norwich, the IT and telecoms around BT's R+D HQ at Martlesham, Ipswich and the engineering excellence along the A11 innovation corridor we can unlock real growth, and provide the real investment opportunities the City needs. With modern communications we can also make this growth locally sustainable; smart growth doesn't have to mean mega housing estates and commuter gridlock; small high tech businesses tend to cluster in high quality-of-life environments, with more and more people working from or closer to home in start-ups. But we won't unlock this potential without the necessary fast rail, road and broadband links. That's why I've been calling for some bold thinking on infrastructure. People are beginning to take notice and get on board. Last Thursday Alistair Stewart of ITN profiled my idea for a regional rail company on his Late Editition show with Charles Clarke, Julian Huppert MP and Brandon Lewis MP. Click here to have a look and post a comment beloew and let me know what you think........ http://www.itv.com/news/anglia/2012-04-19/anglia-late-edition/