Bill Adams: No transport revolution without devolution

The Transport Secretary said this month that the north needs to take control of its own transport decisions.

The TUC agrees, but to do this we must have urgent countywide devolution for Yorkshire. We wonder, and we hope, is that what Chris Grayling means?

This is the obvious conclusion to draw, because without devolution for Yorkshire, there is no way government can reasonably expect 22 local councils, and the non-elected body Transport for the north to successfully co-ordinate long-distance and local intra-Yorkshire services.

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These local connections are hugely important, and the message was loud and clear from many civic leaders at the transport summit held last week in Leeds that Crossrail North cannot overshadow the wider transport infrastructure needs of the region.

What do we mean by that? If you live in Cleckheaton and travel into Leeds for your job starting at 9am, you have limited options. The bus takes over an hour to travel eight miles.

Or say you travel from the outskirts of Wakefield. You have either a bus that gets you in an hour early, or half an hour late. There’s nothing in between.

And let’s just hope you don’t have any children to get to school or childcare in the meantime.

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Or let’s say you live in Barnsley and want to get, well, anywhere. Enjoy your two-carriage Pacer train, if it turns up.

So a commitment to Crossrail North is great, but there is no point discussing it if we don’t even have the infrastructure to get people into hub cities like Leeds and Sheffield to use it.Commuters will not use public transport if they cannot rely on it for everyday things like work and school.

This leads to a vicious cycle where passenger numbers drop, giving bus and train companies the excuse they need to cut non-mainline services.

Then the roads fill up with cars full of empty seats, leading to congestion that makes people late for work and fills the air with unnecessary fumes.

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It’s clear that local authorities need franchising powers to address this, and the Government holds this in its gift. So when Chris Grayling says it’s up to the North to sort out our own transport problems, we need the legal powers to do so first.

Even if the Government does give it the power to franchise, local councils can’t effectively negotiate with a train or bus company providing inter-city services when their hands are tied by a legal set-up which gives the Transport Secretary the final say.

This is why countywide devolved government will work for Yorkshire. A powerful regional government with franchising authority and powers over integrated transport will allow a co-ordinated investment programme and proper restructuring of services, including timetables.

The Government will say this is exactly what Transport for the North is designed to do, following the successful model in London. But Transport for London works because it has scrutiny from a directly accountable mayor and assembly.

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Transport for the North needs the same oversight – local, knowledgeable about the needs of the region, and with an elected mandate.

This can be provided only by large and powerful devolved government, not over 50 disparate local authorities in the north.

Yorkshire has a model to propose to government. All we need is the powers and the funding commitment to crack on with the job.

This isn’t the north going cap in hand to Whitehall. We’re trying to show government the economic potential we can unlock in our county with the right powers and investment.

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So Chris, my invitation (of August 1) for a day out on Yorkshire’s railways still stands. Come and see the potential of this great county if we’re given the right devolution and transport deal to unlock it.

Bill Adams is the Regional Secretary for TUC Yorkshire & the Humber.

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