Councillors urged to back £1bn transport plan

Date: 19/10/2012

Councillors in Leeds have been asked to push on with plans to form a new £1 billion regional transport fund that would help to considerably boost services in the area.

Leeds City council's executive board has been told about how the proposed initiative - which would be entitled the West Yorkshire Transport Fund - would result in a programme of both rail and road improvements being carried out across the county over the next ten years.

According to the proposals, the scheme could pay for new developments including a rail link to Leeds Bradford Airport, which many groups and politicians have claimed is essential for the future prosperity of the local economy.

The report notes that Leeds is the fastest growing city in the UK, with the City of Leeds actually encompassing several different localities, resulting in the second largest metropolitan area in the UK.

The combination of high population and long distance impacts negatively on the efficiency of the only existing bus public transport system, but at the same time the report notes that there is potential to develop a "groundbreaking" urban transport plan.

The proposals state that the scheme could generate significant additional investment that would create jobs in the short and long term, and also improve connections in and out of the country, as well as within it, which would lead to a "fully integrated transport system".

It is hoped that the plans would also reduce West Yorkshire's dependence on funding from central government.

"There is clear evidence that without significant and well-targeted investment in the transport network in West Yorkshire, the opportunities for economic growth will be constrained," the report states.

"This will be a result of increasing levels of congestion, rising costs of motoring and public transport and the inability to recruit a workforce, interact with other businesses or transport goods and services to people and businesses that need them."

Councillors are now being urged to back the proposals so the rollout of the scheme can be formulated.

Posted by Mary Treen

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