Eyes of the world on Yorkshire transport on this sporting weekend – The Yorkshire Post says

Unlike cities like Melbourne and Sydney where transit lines serve major sporting venues, links here mean many more spectators than necessary have to use their car when attending large sporting or cultural events.

Train operators and Network Rail must step up for Yorkshire’s big weekend - The Yorkshire Post says

And this is before Network Rail totally failed to consult organisers over this weekend’s closure of the East Coast Main Line between King’s Cross and Peterborough – an oversight that would not have been allowed, or tolerated, in many other countries.

‘Staggering’ timing of East Coast Main Line closure condemned by Yorkshire event organisers

As such, this is the embarrassing backdrop to West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s decision to consult global experts on how best to develop a mass transit system for Leeds City Region – the largest metropolitan area in Europe without such a form of transport.

Exclusive: Network Rail admit errors after East Coast Main Line closure decision not passed on for up to four months

Given how all previous attempts, from the Leeds Supertram to the trolleybus scheme, have hit the buffers, expectations are understandably very low. It is also an admission by WYCA that it does not have the necessary expertise in spite of a significant expansion to its taxpayer-funded workforce.

Yet, as the debate progresses, policy-makers need to make public transport provision integral to all future residential and commercial developments from the outset. It will be a start – of sorts – after the warning from environmentalists that the car-dependency culture will need to be curtailed if future climate change targets are to be met.