Another £200m requested for long-awaited mass transit scheme in West Yorkshire

West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) said it is due to announce more details about the scheme in the coming months and request £200m for “development and initial delivery”.

In a new report, the organisation said it has been preparing a business case and said will “agree next steps” in March. It is also looking to recruit a director who can oversee the project.

Last year, WYCA set out provisional plans to open a mass rapid transit scheme by 2040, but it has not decided whether to opt for light-rail, tram-trains or prioritised routes for electric buses.

It is currently exploring plans for a network, consisting of nine lines, that would link towns and cities across the region, including Leeds, Bradford, Halifax, Huddersfield and Wakefield.

The Government announced £200m for the project when it published its Integrated Rail Plan in November and said it is expected to cost more than £2bn over the next decade.

But WYCA said that £200m had already been promised as part of the £830m City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement - an investment provided over five years to support the mass transit system and upgrade the bus network.

In a report, it added: “The exact amount to be spent on mass transit over the next five years will depend on the pace of the project and the management of the rest of the settlement.”

There are currently three people working full time on the project, but the organisation said it is looking to expand that team and recruit a director.

The report, which will be discussed at a meeting next week, adds: “This is a competitive market and a fairly niche set of skills given the number of mass transit systems in existence.

“However, creating this team at pace is a priority if the project is to continue with momentum and to reach the milestones set out to Government that the funding is predicated on.

“It is therefore proposed that in the interim this post is filled by a private sector consultant or contractor who can continue the work and support the building of the team whilst a full recruitment to the post can take place.”

The Government has repeatedly stated it supports the project and in December 2019 Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised to “remedy the scandal that Leeds is the largest city in Western Europe without light rail or a metro".

Plans for Leeds Supertram were abandoned by the Government in 2005, due to concerns about spiralling costs, before a highly controversial bid to bring a £250m trolley bus network to the city was scrapped in 2016.