'Great Tram Robbery' won't be forgotten in Leeds and Bradford if Labour fail to deliver: The Yorkshire Post says
When the HS2 line to Leeds was controversially scrapped in 2021 by Boris Johnson’s Government, then Transport Secretary Grant Shapps promised in Parliament that work would instead start on “righting the wrong” of the city and the wider West Yorkshire region not having a mass transit system.
Labour fulminated with justification at the time about the ‘Great Train Robbery’ by the Conservatives, but it now appears their Government is at risk of delivering a ‘Great Tram Robbery’ instead.
After it was revealed earlier this week that the timeline for the latest in a series of plans to bring trams to West Yorkshire is being pushed back by years, it has now emerged that the so-called mass transit system could end up being nothing more than an expanded bus network.
West Yorkshire mayor Tracy Brabin has said she is “determined” to deliver trams.
But she has also revealed not only that the Department for Transport has yet to confirm what mode of transport will make up the network but also that Government rules mean her mayoral authority will have to set out an alternative business case for buses for consideration.
That this is even being looked at as an option is farcical; the mayor is on record as promising trams while Chancellor Rachel Reeves has said delivering them is “incredibly personal” to her as a local MP.
There is also no doubt the West Yorkshire public would take an extremely dim view of some extra buses being classed as a new ‘mass transit system’ – particularly after literally decades of broken promises, cancellations and delays over the idea already.
There is a legitimate fear that bringing trams to West Yorkshire is on course to becoming a ‘mini-HS2’; a project that starts with big ambitions and grand promises but ends up delivering nothing but disappointment.