West Yorkshire’s transport plan; make your voice heard on mass transit and other ideas – Kim Groves

I AM really pleased that the ambitious plans for the future of transport in West Yorkshire have attracted so much interest and been received so positively.
West Yorkshire Combined Authority has just produced its future transport blueprint for the region.West Yorkshire Combined Authority has just produced its future transport blueprint for the region.
West Yorkshire Combined Authority has just produced its future transport blueprint for the region.

We believe that every trip matters whether that is getting to school, college or nursery; commuting to work or connecting with friends; shopping, exploring or simply being active.

From your doorstep, the world should open up. You should be able to take your pick from walking routes and cycleways to high-speed connections that can take you as far as you want to go.

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And our belief in a better future is revealed most powerfully in our commitment to making West Yorkshire’s future transport system a central part of achieving the region’s goal of net zero carbon emissions by 2038.

Kim Groves is Chair of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority Transport Committee. She is a Labour councillor.Kim Groves is Chair of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority Transport Committee. She is a Labour councillor.
Kim Groves is Chair of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority Transport Committee. She is a Labour councillor.

The climate emergency, which so many of us have felt directly through extreme weather events, has to be tackled urgently – and changing how we get around has a vital role to play. Transport accounts for 40 per cent of all carbon emissions in the region.

With these things in mind, our starting point was understanding the future needs of the people of West Yorkshire.

Crucially, we also identified those communities most in need of improved transport connections. We want to use everyday journeys as a way to give people more chances in life, to make our region a fairer place to be.

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That work confirms that there is a role for a mass transit system that could improve transport connections for up to 675,000 people living in the most disadvantaged communities, while connecting 35 areas expecting increased housing, 17 employment growth areas and five hospitals. Integrated with walking and cycling, bus and rail, our proposed network will provide significant additional public transport capacity and improve access to jobs, education and other services.

West Yorkshire Combined Authority has just produced its future transport blueprint for the region.West Yorkshire Combined Authority has just produced its future transport blueprint for the region.
West Yorkshire Combined Authority has just produced its future transport blueprint for the region.

However, the plans we have set out are about much more than that. They are a comprehensive plan to turn our vision for a clean, local, easy-to-use, accessible and reliable transport network into reality for everyone.

I often hear people say that West Yorkshire needs a ‘London-style’ transport system, by which they mean a network that brings together different ways to travel and makes public transport the first option rather than last resort. Read our Connectivity Infrastructure Plan and that is what you will find.

We show how walking and cycling, bus, rail and mass transit can come together to connect all our communities. We show how major investments such as HS2, Northern Powerhouse Rail and upgrading the Transpennine line will help deliver a minimum of two trains per hour to and from every rail station in the region. We show how investment in services can encourage an additional 24 million bus journeys a year.

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It’s important we don’t overlook the progress we have made. We are not approaching this from a standing start. Through the MCard, we have a way of easily paying for travel across bus and rail. Since 2017 we have invested more than £300m, delivering park and rides, new rail stations, improved bus stations and interchanges and an extensive cycling and walking network in urban and rural locations.

Alongside our long-term pipeline of projects through the West Yorkshire-plus Transport Fund, we are also progressing an ambitious programme of further transport investment with partners across West and North Yorkshire through the £317m we have secured from the Government’s Transforming Cities Fund.

Our Connectivity Infrastructure Plan shows how we build on that over the next 20 years to realise our vision for transport. We have set out our ideas and now it is essential the people of West Yorkshire have their say. A public engagement is now open and you can read about our plans and comment at www.yourvoice.westyorks-ca.gov.uk/connectivity.

In the coming weeks and months we will be using that feedback to refine our proposals as we prepare to bid for a share of the Government’s £4.2bn urban transport fund to which we have access, thanks to the West Yorkshire devolution deal. We all know that this region has been let down before and the Prime Minister himself has said it is a “scandal” that we do not have a mass transit-type system.

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We will put forward a compelling case for investment and we need the Government to show it shares our ambitions for West Yorkshire. To help us make the strongest possible case, I ask everyone to make their voice heard.

Kim Groves is Chair of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority Transport Committee. She is a Labour councillor.

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