Region to benefit from transport millions
AREAS of Yorkshire are to receive more than £300m of devolved government funding over a 10 year period to spend on major transport schemes.
The Department for Transport set out proposals to devolve funding for projects to the region from 2015 under Local Transport Bodies (LTBs) last September in a move to give greater regional control over transport spending.
It has now set out indicatively how that funding is to be allocated to councils and local enterprise partnerships.
From 2015 the Humber area has been earmarked to receive a total of £22.2m over a four year period. North Yorkshire would receive £14.4m over the same timeframe.
Under the Government’s city deals programme, West Yorkshire and York would receive £182.8m of funding and the Sheffield City Region area £113.6m over a 10 year period.
The Department for Transport has now asked the LTBs in each area to come back to it with a provisional programme of schemes the cash could be spent on.
James Newman, chairman of the Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership, welcomed the announcement.
He said: “I am pleased that the Government has listened to local leaders to allocate ‘major transport’ funding to the Sheffield City Region. This decision is in line with our request that Government’s devolve funding powers to functional economic areas to ensure more effective use of tax-payer money on infrastructure projects.
“Their decision is encouraging for future funding allocation decisions. It strengthens the progress that local leaders have made working across regional boundaries and reinforces future partnership activity across the Sheffield City Region economic area.
“When the final allocations are made I am confident that the Government will take into account the wishes of local leaders in recognising the strong economic geography of the Sheffield City Region in full.”
Derbyshire Dales officially joined the Sheffield City Region LEP board in January and it is expected that this will be reflected in the Government’s final allocation decision.
Tim Hale, chairman of the Sheffield Chamber of Commerce Transport Forum, said: “This can only be good news for the Sheffield City Region. The work to repair our potholed streets is underway, and the announcement on the High Speed Rail station for the area is eagerly awaited.
“This money being earmarked for transport in our region is excellent news, and it is to be hoped that some of the major issues we have campaigned on over the last few years can finally be resolved, easing congestion across the city’s bottlenecks, and bringing prosperity back into the city.”
