City region bids for £500m to transform transport

Six new and improved bus stations, improvements to seven railway stations and one new station are part of Leeds City Region’s £500m plus bid to the Government’s Transforming Cities Fund.

The bid also includes ambitions for two new bus park and rides, 800 new cycle parking spaces and six key priority bus routes.

If successful, the funding will result in over 1,100 new jobs being created and £1bn being added to the local economy.

It will also mean a reduction of up to 15,000 tons of CO2 emissions from transport by 2036, which will help the City Region tackle the climate emergency.

The plans would mean people living and working across the region will be able to make more journeys by bike or on foot, with changes to town and city centres making it easier for people to choose to travel more sustainably.

Better connectivity resulting from a successful bid will support the building of 45,000 homes at 650 sites and the development of almost 1,600 hectares of employment premises at 220 locations.

West Yorkshire Combined Authority has developed the bid with district partners, Bradford, Calderdale, Craven, Harrogate, Kirklees, Leeds, North Yorkshire, Selby, Wakefield and York councils.

Councillor Kim Groves, chair of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority Transport Committee, said: “Clean, sustainable public transport, walking and cycling are the focus of the Leeds City Region Transforming Cities Fund bid.

“The schemes in the Bid are in line with our Transport Strategy and will complement the significant investment we are already making through the West Yorkshire-plus Transport Fund and the Connecting Leeds programme as well as our emerging plans for mass transit.

“Our Transforming Cities Fund bid aims to engender a transformational change in behaviour, by providing people across West Yorkshire and the City Region with opportunities to make reliable, safe and attractive journeys by using public transport and by walking and cycling.

“We have taken a holistic approach to putting this Transforming Cities Fund bid together to ensure the measures it contains will deliver significant benefits for as many people as possible across the City Region.”

Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe, chair of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority and leader of Bradford Council, said: “Through this ambitious City Region Transforming Cities Fund bid we are setting out how we plan to improve people’s access to employment, education and training and our businesses’ ability to grow, invest with access to a valuable and skilled local workforce.

“Crucially, it addresses the challenges currently experienced by our most disadvantaged communities where people are cut off from opportunities because they don’t have access to affordable and sustainable travel.

“This bid will provide local people with a real alternative to travelling by car, enabling them to make sustainable journeys that are better for their physical and mental wellbeing and our environment.”

Among the schemes contained in the Leeds City Region bid are plans to transform Bradford city centre to reduce traffic and improve air quality and improve links between its Interchange and Forster Square rail stations.

A new park and ride to the south of the city will ease congestion and boost investment.

Major works to the front of Leeds rail station will improve access for people travelling to the station by foot or on bike and will include a 700-space secure cycle parking facility. Improvements to the station will also prepare the city for the arrival of HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail routes.

A new rail station at White Rose will increase capacity to accommodate future employment growth, support access to key employment and retail centres and provide an interchange between bus and rail services.

Sustainable access to York’s rail station will be transformed by a reconfiguration of the area in front of it to improve capacity for pedestrians and cyclists and to create an improved bus and taxi interchange.

There will also be new cycling and walking routes between the station and the city centre.