As was widely expected the Conservative Party regained power on Nottinghamshire County Council for the first time in 28 years at the elections held in early June. After the election the new leader of the Council – Cllr Kay Cutts – reaffirmed that her party would not support the extensions of Nottingham Express Transit. However, the City Council still remain committed and have said if they can not convince their County counterparts to support the plan they will do their best to ensure the scheme still goes ahead.
Cllr Cutts, said straight after the results: “We will not support the tram on lines two and three. It is devastating to communities and we cannot afford it. If somebody comes up with a direct route that's affordable, like the line in Hucknall, then we might reconsider but only if they come up with a new plan."
With the City Council expecting the worst before the elections they conducted some meetings including local MPs, Cllr Jon Collins (Council leader) and Jane Todd (Chief Executive). During the meeting the financing of the scheme was considered in detail and it was concluded it could be funded even with the withdrawal of County Council support. The County Council had previously committed to funding £28 million towards the scheme and if this was withdrawn the City Council would likely have to pay this themselves, raising the money through borrowing.
Alan Simpson, MP for Nottingham South, who attended the meeting, said: “This is an issue we raised at a meeting last week with city council officials. They came up with a workable scheme to deliver tram lines two and three and we are on track to do that."
Cllr Steve Barber, from Broxtowe Borough Council, added: “The tram will happen, it's far too important not to happen, it's too big a project for the city and for the region. The amount of money the Tories are going to withhold will be found – but it could take up to a year to find it and cause a huge delay for Beeston."
Cllr Jane Urquhart, City Council portfolio holder for transport, said: “It is reasonable for county council residents to foot some of the bill. Their share is less than the city share. The argument that lots of people in the county will not benefit is narrow minded and short sighted. Overall there are widespread benefits. In principle the legal position is that the Government has granted us the powers to do phase two of the tram. We can do that jointly or individually. We have the legal powers to do it. The issue we are currently working on is the finance."
If the County Council can not be persuaded the City Council will fund it themselves - £28 million is the figure which will need to be found. But with interest payments this would likely rise to £53 million during the life of the project – which runs to 2033. This basically equates to around an extra £2 million a year in the Council’s budget and how this could be raised is now open to debate.
Pat Armstrong, NET Director, said: “The most important thing is we want to continue working in partnership. The tram is clearly seen by the business sector as an important part of Nottingham being somewhere to invest. Line One has been a success and Phase Two will bring the benefits of Line One to a wider population."
A decision needs to be made by mid-July as to how (or if) phase two can still go-ahead, as that is when the Government’s Project Review Group will likely make a decision on whether the project is still viable.
Source: This is Nottingham