Leeds Tories call for secret 'delay' review into West Yorkshire mass transit to published
A senior Leeds councillor has called on Mayor Tracy Brabin to publish the confidential review into West Yorkshire mass transit.
Ms Brabin has pledged to bring trams back to the streets of Leeds and Bradford and has staked her reputation on the success of the £2.5bn project.
Leeds is the biggest city in Europe without a mass transit network, with multiple previous projects falling by the wayside.
Ms Brabin has promised to get spades in the ground in 2028, the year of her reelection campaign as mayor, for routes from Leeds station to the White Rose Centre and on to Bradford.
However, a confidential government review, by the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (Nista), has caused the completion date to be pushed back to the late 2030s.
Certain details of the report have now been revealed by The House magazine, which said the mass transit scheme was being driven by a “political agenda rather than a recognised programmatic approach”.
It also suggested that the mayor should consider a bus rapid transit system - which would be made of electric trolleybuses or guided busways - instead of trams.
It said: “There is a need to build the case for trams which has not been completed.
“This is particularly important because the likely cost of a BRT mode is significantly less than for trams and the BRT benefits:cost ratio is significantly better.”
Now Coun Alan Lamb, the leader of the Conservative group on Leeds City Council, has renewed his calls for the report to be published in full.
He said: “I still cannot disclose the contents of the Independent Peer Review. But I can say it made material recommendations about governance, the business case and other key matters.
“We know those findings directly preceded the Government’s decision to delay the programme.
“That matters because residents were told publicly - with great confidence - that spades would be in the ground in 2028.
“If there is a gap between public certainty and private evidence, that gap must be addressed openly.
“It should not take a Freedom of Information request for the public to be able to read the full report, and I am renewing my call on the Mayor to publish it in full.
“I am pro mass transit and want to see it delivered, but I will not support spin over substance.”
West Yorkshire Combined Authority previously said that “following legal advice, we are unable to release the report or details of its contents”.
This week, a spokesperson added: “Nista's predecessor body, the National Infrastructure Commission, set out clearly in 2023 that Leeds needs a tram.
“A review at this stage of a project of this scale is completely normal, and the majority of its recommendations have already been addressed by the combined authority.”
The Department for Transport added that all major project reviews undertaken by Nista are treated as confidential.
A DfT spokesperson said: “Whilst we do not comment on details of leaked reports, the Government fully supports Mayor Brabin’s ambitions for a world-class mass transit system for West Yorkshire.
“We look forward to receiving WYCA's initial business case for the project later this year.”