The socio-economic effects of the Channel Tunnel
The European Commission, DG VII, has published the final report of COST Action 317 which examined the socio-economic effects of the Channel Tunnel. Eight countries (Belgium, France, UK, Ireland, The Netherlands, Denmark, Spain and Switzerland) participated in this joint research project aimed at providing a clearer understanding of the impact of such major infrastructure projects on the socio-economic environment. The project, initiated by the French in 1991, highlighted the difficulties inherent in examining this question, which become all the more evident when placed in a scientific context. The final report of COST Action 317 is, therefore, essentially a presentation of the state-of-the-art with regard to evaluating the socio-economic effects of large transport infrastructure projects. It presents the results of an important data collection effort, complemented by analyses setting down guidelines for the future. The report shows quite clearly that practices with regard to the evaluation of socio-economic effects are still evolving, that they reflect different cultures, that they can make use of new investigative techniques (such as analysis of satellite images), and that there is not, at the present time, a widely accepted body of doctrine in this area.