He wants the 130-mile M62 to become the core of a coast-to-coast “megalopolis” that would stretch from Liverpool to his home city of Hull. The new supercity would encompass Manchester, Leeds and Humberside with spurs linking it to Sheffield to the south and Newcastle to the north — giving it a population of about 15m compared with London’s 9m.

Critics fear the plan would mean concreting over thousands of acres of green fields to build transport links, homes and business facilities. However, if it succeeded in attracting people northwards it could generate thousands of jobs and relieve the pressure on southern housing supplies.

The project is being seen as the swansong for Prescott, MP for Hull East. He is understood to be acutely aware that he could be in his last major government post and is anxious to leave a positive political legacy after the fiasco of his 10-year transport plan, which failed on almost every count.

Prescott has employed a team of academics, architects and design gurus to draw up plans for the conurbation. Among them is John Goddard, professor of regional development studies and deputy vice-chancellor of Newcastle University.

He said Prescott wanted to see “an extended metropolis” big enough to shift the balance of power in England away from London and the southeast.

Goddard compares the proposed supercity, nicknamed “Prezzagrad”, to the American east coast from Boston through New York to Washington. The cities retain separate names and authorities but are seen as a single economic unit. “It will start as a string of cities connected by high-speed rail and road links with its growth driven by knowledge-based businesses such as university spin-offs, research parks and high-tech businesses,” said Goddard.

Despite the prospects for economic growth, critics fear much of the countryside could be endangered by ribbon sprawl along the motorways, despite government pledges that previously developed “brown field” sites would be given priority for building. It is already planned to build 500,000 homes across northern England by 2016.

It is also feared that new housing, road building and public transport growth could create intolerable pressures on nearby national parks such as the Peak district in Derbyshire and the Yorkshire dales.

An official steering group to put the project into practice will hold its first meeting this week. The scheme, provisionally called the Northern Way, is being led by three government-funded regional development quangos bidding for a share of a £22 billion government aid fund for regional development.

Northern England is already being used by planners as a laboratory for new ideas. The architect Will Alsop has championed the idea of a supercity running along the M62. He said he was delighted that “Prescott should pick up on my idea”, although he had had no contact with officials over the plan.

The Northern Way, launched this month, is being seen as a response to criticism that the government is concentrating development spending on southeastern England.

Four large areas have been earmarked for expansion in the southeast. They may create thousands of jobs but have also sparked outrage over the proposed destruction of large areas of countryside, particularly around Stansted airport in Essex.

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