Councils vie for limited national funding

Eleven major transport upgrade bids were lodged with the Department for Transport (DfT) by local councils across Yorkshire this month as they compete with 34 other nationwide schemes for a share of the Government’s £700m transport funding pot.

Bids submitted include proposals for new trams for the Sheffield Supertram network; an integrated transport plan for Beverley; two new stations in the Leeds city region at Kirkstall Forge and Apperley Bridge; and a bypass on the A684 at Leeming Bar.

But with the DfT squeezing councils harder than ever due to the current curbs on public spending, every authority was told to reassess their scheme and find ways to cut it back, make it more efficient – or to inject extra cash from their own reserves.

Even having done so, the councils are all too aware that the reduced cash available from the Government means some schemes are still unlikely to get the green light.

York City Council, which was bidding to create three new park-and-ride sites around the edge of the historic city, was forced to ditch proposals for one of the site and promise to contribute an extra £3m towards the scheme.

Dave Merrett, the council’s cabinet member for city strategy, said: “We have had to make a difficult decision to ensure the best chance for funding the new park and ride sites, particularly in the light of the feedback we received that our bid needed to improve.”

The Government will decide which schemes will go ahead in December.

Other projects in Yorkshire bidding for funding are a scheme to improve the A164 between Beverley and the Humber Bridge; a bus lane linking Sheffield and Rotherham; maintenance work for the Leeds inner ring road; link roads at Waverley and between Doncaster and Robin Hood Airport; and the Leeds Trolleybus scheme.

Keith Wakefield, leader of Leeds City Council, said: “We’ve been waiting 21 years for successive Governments to deliver a modernised transport system for Leeds.

“Every time we think we’re at a point of getting off the ground, they have come back and told us to do more work and cut it. We have the bid for Trolleybuses in now, but with the state of the public finances being what they are, it’s going to be difficult to get all the money this time round.”

It emerged last month that Leeds is now working with all four other councils in West Yorkshire to create a £1bn fund to help fund major transport schemes locally.