During a visit to a factory in the north of England, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has promised that funding for improving transport links across the region will be available from his government. Headline projects which they will be supporting will be including the West Yorkshire Mass Transit scheme which its hoped will see trams return to Leeds in a network which will initially go to Bradford.
As part of his promise to spend more than double the amount of money per head in the north than the south, or even London, on transport projects Mr Starmer confirmed a number of projects (mostly non-tram, such as making the Liverpool-Hull corridor a major economic superpower with £415 million invested in the rail line between Manchester, Huddersfield, Leeds and York). He also reiterated plans for devolution to local areas to allow them to make decisions themselves on how best to use funding.
Mr Starmer said: “The North is home to a wealth of talent and ingenuity. But for too long, it has been held to ransom by a Victorian-era transport system which has stifled its potential. I lived in Leeds for years, I get that this has real-world impacts – missed appointments, children late to school, work meetings rescheduled – all leading to insecurity and instability for working people.
“My government won’t stand by and watch. We are rolling up our sleeves, and today’s downpayment for growth is a vote of confidence in the North’s world-beating industries. The film studios in Bradford, life sciences in Liverpool, the fintech industry in Leeds – it is time they had a government on their side to get the North motoring again.
“After years of false promises and under delivery, this government is delivering real change for the North. We are spending double as much on local transport in the North than the South, all done hand-in-hand with our mayors and local leaders. Through our Plan for Change, we are upgrading transport in the North, we are correcting years of unfairness that has gone before, and we are better linking our historic towns and cities. That means boosting living standards, putting more money in the pockets of working people, and restoring pride to communities.”
The press release also called out future projects including the West Yorkshire Mass Transit scheme (which is expected to see the next stage of a business case produced this autumn) which will bring growth to the largest city in Europe without a metro transport system. Other projects include a new Merseyrail station in the Baltic Triangle and back to more tram interest, a fast-tracking of the redevelopment of Bury Interchange.
The government’s City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements are already helping to support major transport schemes in various city regions. This includes the Dudley and Merry Hill West Midlands Metro extension (still described in the press release as the Brierley Hill line) and the renewal of South Yorkshire Supertram (indeed the news story is illustrated on the DfT website with an image of a tram on Park Square bridge in the centre of Sheffield).