A set of suggested methodologies for appraisal of Wider Economic Benefits was published by the UK Department for Transport covering a range of welfare and GDP benefits including Agglomeration Economies - increases in productivity resulting from higher densities of employment; More people working - the increase in output arising from better transport encouraging more people into work; Move to more productive jobs - the increase in productivity identified as resulting from jobs relocating into higher productivity areas; Increased output in imperfectly competitive markets - the increase in production expected to result from transport improvements; Increased competition - benefits arising from increased competition as a result of transport improvements and the Wider benefits from the exchequer consequences of the GDP related effects. MVA Consultancy and David Simmonds Consultancy were commissioned to undertake a study of these wider economic impacts of transport interventions using a land-use and transport interaction model in combination with the DfTs new method for identifying and quantifying wider economic impacts. The aim of the study was to look at the likely impacts of a range of transport interventions, with a view to helping to draw some broad conclusions as to which interventions given particular characteristics of the area are likely to provide an effective contribution to the economy. This paper presents the Wider Economic Benefit methodology, describes the South and West Yorkshire Strategic Model - a Land-Use Transport Interaction Model used in this study, and reports on the results obtained.
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