COST 317 - LES EFFETS SOCIO-ECONOMIQUES DU TUNNEL SOUS LA MANCHE

Directorate-General For Mobility And Transport European Commission

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• Publié par: DIRECTORATE-GENERAL-FOR-MOBILITY-AND-TRANSPORT-EUROPEAN-COMMISSION
• Nombre de lectures: 34
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 6 Mo

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OST 317
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COST 317
Socio-Economie Effects
of the Channel Tunnel
Final Report of the Action
European Commission
Directorate General Transport Cover picture : Mr Michel Spingier
Document : Conseil régional Nord Pas-de-Calais
''Le shuttle - EUROTUNNEL - Coquelles", March 1995
LEGAL NOTICE
Neither the European Commission nor any person acting on behalf of
the Commission is responsible for the use which might be made of
the following information.
The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily
reflect the views of the European Commission.
A great deal of additional information on COST Transport is available on the World Wide Web.
It can be accessed through the CORDIS server (http://www.cordis.lu/cost-transport/home.html).
Cataloguing data can be found at the end of this publication.
Luxembourg : Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 1997
ISBN 92-827-6678-0
© ECSC-EEC-EAEC, Brussels · Luxembourg, 1997
Reproduction is authorised, except for commercial purposes, provided the source is
acknowledged
Printed in Belgium Summary
NOTE
The exceptional nature of the introduction of the Channel Tunnel has led Belgium,
Denmark, Spain, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Switzerland to
participate in a joint research programme on the socio-economic effects of this infrastructure
as part of COST 317. This project, which was launched in 1991, is extended beyond the
normal three years until 1995 to make up for the delays in the opening of the Tunnel.
The following pages form the interim report of COST 317 ; they reflect the work carried
out by the national delegations and the discussions held during the various meetings of the
Management Committee. Owing to the variety of authors they make no claim to unity in style
or perfect consistency in analysis. They therefore reflect the diversity of approaches and variety
of cultures which have marked these years of joint work.
This diversity does not, however, signify opposition. A wide consensus has emerged on the
very purpose of the project, the analyses of the relationship between major transport
infrastructure and socio-economic changes.
Finally, this variety is a consequence of the diverse practices of the various countries in the
methods which they use for apprehending the consequences of transport infrastructure. These s and current practices are a long way from being permanently fixed ; they are still
developing today, which means that this report is a provisional reflection of a changing
situation rather than a definitive response to a question which remains largely open.
François Plassard
President of COST 317
Management Committee
The English Report is prepared by Odile HEDDEBAUT, researcher at INRETS - TRACES.
Socio-economic effects of the Channel Tunnel COST 317 Final report
COST 317 Socio-economic effects of the Channel Tunnel Summary
SUMMARY
NOTE 1
INTRODUCTION 5
1. The objectives of COST 317
2. The scientific context 7
3 Towards a new approach to socio-economic effects 9
PART ONE : TYPES OF EFFECTS AND METHODS OF EVALUATION 13
1. Identification of fields concerned 1
2. The effects5
3. Methods used for evaluating socio-economic effects 20
4. Conclusion 31
PART TWO : THE USUAL METHODS OF EVALUATION OF MAJOR
INFRASTRUCTURES3
1. Examples of major infrastructure projects in the European Union 3
2. Analysis of methodologies and of case studies in countries participating in the
COST 317 project 50
3. Comparison of methods for evaluating road infrastructures 11
4. Analysis of the Assessment methods for the Channel Tunnel7
PART THREE : TRAMELAN SEMINAR ASSESSEMENT OF MAJOR
INFRASTRUCTURES 139
1. Reactions to and observations on the interim report by the experts 14
2. Summary of discussions at the Tramelan seminar 176
GENERAL CONCLUSION 181
1. General comments
2. The points of agreement of COST 3173
3. Guidelines4
BD3LIOGRAPHY7
1. Effects of major infrastructures
2. Bibliography of the Channel tunnel 198
APPENDIX : List of the members of the Management Committee of COST 317 209
TABLE OF CONTENTS 211
Socio-economic effects of the Channel Tunnel COST 31Final report
COST 317 Socio-economic effects of the Channel Tunnel Introduction
INTRODUCTION
COST 317 is intended to specify the relationship which may exist between the introduction
of a major transport infrastructure (the Channel Tunnel) and its consequences on the socio­
economic changes to the surrounding area and to propose where possible a method for
detecting and evaluating these changes. However, the work carried out has shown the
difficulties inherent in this question which are easily understood once the scientific context is
taken into account. This leads to a proposal for a new approach to study and to evaluate the
socio-economic effects.
This work, therefore, reflects the doubts of the delegations who have met regularly, in that
it is uncertain whether the nature and importance of these effects can be clearly apprehended at
the close of the project, but the work also raises great hopes by clearly posing the questions
underlying this research.
1. The objectives of COST 317
COST 317 was launched by France in 1991, under the leadership of Bernard Gérardin. The
exceptional combination of two factors fully justified the project : i) the existence of numerous
research projects on the fundamental effects of major transport infrastructure which came to
some very clear conclusions and ii) the completion by Anglo-French private capital of a
structure of exceptional size and importance, ie the Channel Tunnel. This was a unique chance
to try to identify any changes to the socio-economic environment attributable to this new
transport infrastructure.
The COST 317 project set itself the task of identifying relevant methods and their
application to the ex post socio-economic evaluation of the Channel Tunnel and attempting to
generalise to other major infrastructure'.
Four objectives were clearly set out in the proposal note
1. to compile an inventory of the European, national, regional and even intra-regional
databases necessary to implement this evaluation ;
2. to identify the quantitative and qualitative variables to be integrated in these evaluation
models ;
3. possibly, to define and initiate the construction of new databases ;
4. to draw any valuable lessons from the work carried out in the case of the Channel Tunnel
with regard to applying the methods adopted to the evaluation of other major infrastructure
projects.
Note of 4 November 1993. reference COMTECH/5/94, VII/126/94
COST 317 Socio-economic effects of the Channel Tunnel 6 Final report
The construction of the Channel Tunnel was therefore an unmissable opportunity for
conducting a study, even though studies already conducted in various countries already cast
doubt on this very mechanistic view of a cause-and-effect relationship between major
infrastructure and changes to surrounding areas which was identifiable by more or less tried-
and-tested statistical techniques.
This question was already clearly expressed in the text on which the Technical Committee's
decision was based :
"The socio-economic effects of infrastructure such as the Channel Tunnel are not restricted to
the direct economic impact as seen in the development of the conditions of operation of the
transport market in terms of prices and time and capacity saved. These effects which are
apprehended by the traditional tools of economic calculation tend to underestimate the reality
of the roll-on effects on economic development. "
It is therefore easy to see why the objectives announced have been gradually reexamined as
part of COST'S work, given that knowledge "of the fundamental effects of major transport
infrastructure" has been refined and considerable stress has been laid on the significance of the
context in which this research has been conducted in the different countries.
1.1. Study of the effects
Since the 1960s in the United States and the 1970s in Europe, especially in France,
questions have been raised over the consequences of the introduction of new transport
infrastructure on economic activity in general and the organisation of surrounding areas in
particular. These studies looked at examples of roads and motorways. They were mostly
centred on a simple causal relationship : an attempt was made to measure the extra
development or employment generated by the new infrastructure. Very quickly, however, it
was noted that this way of reasoning could not continue given the conclusions reached by the
studies which may be summed up as follows2 :
• growth and jobs do not automatically follow the construction and introduction of a new
transport infrastructure,
• the effects are very often tenuous and only appea