'Make it happen Leeds': Readers back mass transit plans as Starmer told to handover financial power
Readers have thrown their support behind mass transit plans after the Prime Minister was urged to hand over financial power to mayors.
Britain Remade, the country’s leading pro-growth campaign group, this week urged Sir Keir Starmer to give England’s metro mayors the power to approve, fund and deliver major transport infrastructure projects.
It comes after new analysis comparing Leeds with its twin cities of Lille and Dortmund revealed a major gap in transport investment, with both boasting extensive mass transit networks, which Leeds currently lacks.
Plans to build a highly-anticipated mass transit system in West Yorkshire have been delayed by several years to the late 2030s, and taking to Facebook, Yorkshire Evening Post readers have called on the region’s leaders to ensure it actually happens this time.
“We are way behind the curve of Manchester as much as it pains me to say; infrastructure being one element. Their tram system really does work,” Craig Zachariah-Best said. This was echoed by Mark Hammill who warned: “Make it happen Leeds or be left behind forever.”
Sajad Hussain added: “Sheffield got theirs at right time when there was money in the pot then Leeds turn came. No money left in the pot, it’s empty go back to your drawing board. Peter Cresswell meanwhile joked: “I'm still waiting for the 2001 Leeds Supertram.”
Britain Remade, which campaigns to make it quicker, easier and cheaper, to build the infrastructure needed to boost growth across the country says the reason for the gap is simple: mayors in cities like Lille and Dortmund have the authority to plan and deliver transport systems locally, while English mayors do not.
Currently regional leaders like West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin must rely on approval from Westminster before major projects can move forward, and Britain Remade this centralised system is one of the reasons the UK has struggled to build the clean transport infrastructure modern cities need.
The pro-growth group wants to see the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill, which is currently going through Parliament, amended to give all 14 of England’s directly elected mayors the power to approve, fund and deliver transport infrastructure themselves.
Sam Richards, founder of Britain Remade, said: “Cities like Lille and Dortmund trust their local leaders to build the transport systems their economies need. But in England, mayors still have to go cap in hand to the Treasury and the Department for Transport before anything major can get built.
“That’s one reason cities like Leeds are falling behind comparable places in Europe. Directly elected mayors know what their areas need far better than officials in Whitehall. If the Government wants cities like Leeds to compete with the best in Europe, it needs to trust local leaders to get on and build.”
Leeds remains the largest city in Western Europe without a tram system, and has seen numerous false dawns since the city’s original tram network was axed in 1959.
Plans to restore them were first proposed in 1991 and have included the Supertram scheme that was shelved in 2005 and a proposed trolleybus network that was rejected in 2016.
Despite delays, Mayor Brabin has promised spades in the ground by 2028 but some readers have urged the West Yorkshire Combined Authority to ensure the plans prioritise Leeds.
“The reason this keeps failing is that a tram network for Leeds makes sense and it’s insane that it doesn’t exist but it’s continually sold as a West Yorkshire mass transit system. That simply doesn’t work,” Andy Medina commented.
“Unlike Greater Manchester and Greater London which are single conurbations and effectively function as single cities both geographically and by governance, West Yorkshire is a series of separate conurbations with no common centre.”