Risk North Yorkshire becomes rail 'black hole' without more funding, mayor warns
North Yorkshire risks becoming a “black hole” in the North’s rail network unless the Government boosts transport funding in the region, David Skaith has said.
Speaking at the Transport for the North (TfN) meeting, the York and North Yorkshire Mayor highlighted the “funding gap” between city region mayoralties - like West and South Yorkshire - and newer combined authorities like his.
It comes as the Rail North Committee - which is formed of Northern leaders and chaired by Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham - wrote to Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander “expressing its concern” about pausing a number of investments following the Spending Review.
These include along the East Coast Main Line both, at Northallerton and north of York, and the electrification of the Midland Main Line to Sheffield.
TfN chair Martin Tugwell told the meeting: “The Rail North Committee was making those points, not only are they important for those locations and those communities but part of enabling Northern Powerhouse Rail, which this board has consistently said is a critical part of unlocking the North’s economy.”
Mr Skaith described the funding for Haxby Station, outside of York, as “incredibly important, particularly for our push to get half-hour trains between York and Scarborough”.
However, he added: “That said, the funding gap between city region combined authorities and non-city region combined authorities is still there and it is a challenge.
“We talk about a couple of transport proposals that weren’t put forward, we cannot afford to be a black hole in North Yorkshire for the rest of the North.
“If we’re truly going to get transport that works for the entirety of the North, we’re going to have a pan-region approach to transport.
“We can’t have a region like mine which could potentially get left behind.”
An announcement on Northern Powerhouse Rail is expected to happen by the Labour Party Conference at the end of the month.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves revealed in the Spending Review at the start of June that Labour was committed to NPR, alongside £3.5bn in funding for the Transpennine Route Upgrade (TRU).
It was widely expected more detail would follow in the 10-Year Industrial Strategy the following week, however no firm announcement came.
When asked about the delays by The Yorkshire Post on a recent visit to Leeds, Heidi Alexander, the Transport Secretary, said: “We’re committed to improving rail connectivity in the North of England, we will be saying more on our plans in the next couple of weeks and months.
“We’re working through some detail following the Spending Review allocations, but we know to get the country’s economy firing on all cylinders we need to support local economies in places like Manchester, Leeds and York and we will be saying more in due course.”
NPR has been in the pipeline for around a decade, and has been seen by regional leaders and businesses as key to solving the North’s connectivity issues and driving growth.
It was originally planned to connect Liverpool with Hull, via Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield, using part of the HS2 track. However, when the Northern leg was cancelled by Rishi Sunak it was pushed back.
The Yorkshire Post understands there is up to £1.5bn in transport funding set aside in the Spending Review, which set out departmental budgets and major infrastructure projects for the next four years, and this could be used for scoping work on NPR.