Cumbria has put forward the “strongest possible case” for crucial road and rail improvements through the newly-launched Transport for the North plan of investments.

That was the message from Cumbria County Council’s cabinet member for highways and transport, councillor Keith Little, as Transport for the North (TfN) launched its Strategic Transport Plan at Carlisle Lake District Airport on Monday.

The plan sets out a blueprint for around £70 billion-worth of investment in transport projects across the region over the next 30 years, with the potential to create 850,000 jobs.

Cumbrian projects featured in the plan include the Carlisle Southern Link Road, which will connect junction 42 of the M6 to the A595 to the west, including connections to St Cuthbert’s Garden Village.

The A595 also features heavily – in the shape of the Whitehaven Relief Road and improvements at the notorious pinch point at Grizebeck – along with the A66 – which will see junctions at Brigham and Broughton converted in to roundabouts and the road completely dualled between the M6 and A1(M) at an estimated cost of between £100 million and £500m.

In the south of the county, the A590 is also set for improvements at junctions in Ulverston and Swarthmoor while the section between Greenodd and Ulverston will be upgraded to dual carriageway standard.

On the railways, rolling stock and service improvements will be carried out on The Lakes Line by 2019, while early plans are being worked on to improve facilities at Carlisle train station to support potential HS2 services, along with Oxenholme and Penrith.

While many of the high-profile projects have already been announced, the plan also outlines potential future projects. They include improvements to journey times and the reliability of services from Whitehaven to Newcastle, Barrow to Whitehaven, along the Furness Line and between Barrow, Windermere and Manchester Airport.

Road improvements include improving the capacity of the A595 from Carlisle to West Cumbria along with the A590, improvements between the A66 and the Port of Workington, a new bypass for Ulverston and a new link road for the north of Kendal. Improved access between the M6 and Carlisle Lake District Airport along the A689 is also mentioned, although no timescales for these longer-term projects are included.

Mr Little said: “We fully support TfN’s vision and believe it could transform transport in the North. But now we need the Government to back TfN by delivering the investment so badly needed in the north.”

Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership board member Dr Steve Curl, echoed the sentiment.

“Cumbria is getting its fair share in the plan,” he said. “CLEP is just in the final stages of drafting its Local Industrial Strategy, which ties in to the national strategy. Infrastructure is pivotal in that, because if you haven’t got the communications, then industry and business can’t thrive. We also have the second biggest visitor economy in the UK after London, and we have got to get our visitors in and out seamlessly.”

Dr Curl said the plan would help the rest of the UK to understand its strategic importance.

“Cumbria is a really major contributor to UK plc,” he said.

“We are the hub of the nuclear industry – both civil and defence – we have a non-carbon energy industry on the west coast which is second-to-none, we have the UK’s biggest windfarm, supply a large part of the north west’s water, we have the biggest sheep herd in the country and the second biggest dairy heard, so we’re strategically important for food as well.”

TfN’s chief executive, Barry White told those gathered at the launch that the plan was “more of an economic plan than a transport plan”.

“Cumbria has a really important role to play,” he added.

TfN’s Strategic Transport Plan has already been welcomed by business leaders and politicians from across Cumbria who believed the draft published last year had “sold Cumbria short”.