Expenditure across English regions is not directly comparable and a wide range of factors are taken into account in determining how funding should be distributed, including the needs of different areas.
Investment in transport within the north-east is at record levels. The Department for Transport's spending on road and rail in the region has increased by 80 per cent. over the six years to 2007-08—from £165 million to £298 million. £457 million is provisionally allocated to fund major schemes in the north-east in the 10-year period to 2015-16 through the regional funding allocations process. And the recent local transport plan settlement allocated £245 million funding over the next three years for local authorities across the north-east, providing more funding per head of population in 2008-09 than any other region except the south-west.
The north-east also benefits from improvements to key corridors and services outside of the region. For example, A1 upgrades in Yorkshire will improve north-east connectivity to major cities to the south and improvements on East Coast Main Line and TransPennine Express benefit many regions.