Board to endorse £1bn transport investment proposals

WEST Yorkshire Integrated Transport Authority’s executive board is being asked to endorse a £1bn core package of priority transport investment proposals for West Yorkshire and York at its meeting today.

Acting in its capacity as Interim Local Transport Body (LTB) for West Yorkshire and York in advance of the creation of a new Combined Authority, the ITA board is set to approve the range of projects, which includes better access to the motorway network and new highways to unlock key development sites, park & ride schemes and additional rail station parking.

Further NGT trolleybus routes, major decongestion measures to improve reliability for freight, cars and buses and city and town centre improvements for cyclists and pedestrians are also among the proposals.

Last week Metro chairman Coun James Lewis welcomed the news that West Yorkshire and York had received a 10-year funding allocation from the Department for Transport of £183m.

“I am pleased that West Yorkshire is one of just four areas to be allotted the full amount of funding it was promised and that we will have further opportunity to grow that amount through the development of innovative and effective transport proposals to the DfT.

“It is acknowledged that a strong transport network underpins business and growth and the prospectus of transport schemes that we have developed and which I hope my colleagues will endorse today, will make a real difference to journeys, jobs, business and employment and the economy in West Yorkshire and York.”

This funding will be a key element of the £1bn Transport Fund as part of the City Deal with Government and comes on top of other government transport investment commitments including managed motorways, the NGT trolleybus in Leeds, trans-Pennine rail electrification, improvements at Leeds station and new rail stations at Apperley Bridge, Kirkstall Forge and Low Moor.