Northern cities ‘still 
lagging behind on 
transport funding’

YORKSHIRE’s major cities are losing out to London when the Government hands out transport funding, according to a new report.

The body representing passenger transport executives found spending per person is now 2.8 times higher in London than it is in the North.

London and the South East also has had the biggest share of the Government’s Growing Places Fund designed to help remove obstacles to growth such as a lack of infrastructure.

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The report said one of the few pots of transport money not to be reviewed by the Government is funding for road maintenance which favours rural areas.

The Passenger Transport Executive Group warned that further changes to transport funding being considered by the Government would further favour wealthy districts in the South East where car use is high but congestion low.

Jonathan Bray, the group’s director, said: “It’s time there were more connections made within Whitehall between the very welcome words on our largest cities’ importance to the economy, and the way in which decisions are taken on funding allocations.

“It seems that the memo on the importance of cities to the UK’s growth prospects just isn’t getting to all the right people when key decisions are taken on whether transport funding is spent in congested powerhouse city region economies or in quiet market towns.”

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“With HS2 on the way it’s more important than ever that cities get adequate funding to ensure that local transport networks are ‘HS2’ ready and can cope with the massive implications of the biggest re-writing of the long distance rail network since it was built.”