Dozens of Yorkshire transport projects to be put on hold to save £270m

Projects such as the Bradford to Shipley Corridor, South East Bradford Access Road, Halifax Station Gateway, Leeds Inland Port are due to be “paused” indefinitely by West Yorkshire Combined Authority, at a meeting next week.

Bus lanes, road-widening projects, park and ride schemes and railway station redevelopments have also been put on hold.

The organisation, which is led by West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin, said it will free up £266m which can be spent on “key transport priorities” that are currently in development and “ease the immediate pressure on budgets” caused by inflation.

It conducted a review of each project and decided to pause 42 projects that were not deemed to be affordable or deliverable.

West Yorkshire Combined Authority said another 19 projects will be put on hold until additional funding can be obtained to “enable them to continue into delivery”.

A spokeswoman said: “Record levels of inflation, combined with the knock-on effects of Brexit, the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, are having a significant impact on the costs of infrastructure projects across the country.

“We have worked closely with our local authority partners to minimise this disruption and ensure no part of the region is unfairly impacted as we identify schemes that can be paused and delivered over a longer time period.

“All of these projects will help level up our region, and we’ll be holding Government to account over how these will be funded.”

It comes as Ms Brabin and political leaders across the North are urging the Government to deliver the original plans for Northern Powerhouse Rail and HS2, and scrap the scaled-back versions set out in the Integrated Rail Plan.

Transport for the North proposed a £43bn Northern Powerhouse Rail network, with high-speed lines running between Liverpool to Leeds and a new station in Bradford.

But the Government has agreed to build one 40-mile line between Warrington and Marsden and upgrade existing lines.

Transport Secretary Mark Harper told Parliament’s Transport Committee yesterday that Downing Street remains committed to those plans despite the current pressures on public finances, and it is exploring proposals “about how we can deliver high-speed services to Bradford”.

He added: “The Government is maintaining its investment in infrastructure.

"I would continue to argue it is a very significant driver of economic growth.”

Another £11.5bn has been set aside for the Transpennine Route Upgrade, which was first announced in 2011, and that project is expected to take at least 10 years to complete.

The upgrade aims to increase capacity on the 76-mile line, with an extra two passenger trains every hour, cut journey times by up to 40 per cent and allow passengers to travel from Leeds to Manchester in 33 minutes.

And in November last year, Ministers also promised £100m for a study to “look at the most effective way to run HS2 trains to Leeds” and address capacity issues at Leeds Station, after it was announced that the Eastern Leg of the high-speed rail line will be cut short and stop at East Midlands Parkway.

But the launch of that study, known as the Leeds Area Study, has been delayed after the Treasury reportedly questioned the cost and 13 months later Northern leaders are still waiting for it to begin.

According to the Government’s latest estimate, the overall cost of the highly controversial high-speed rail project will spiral to between £72bn and £98bn.