West Yorkshire mass transit: region can decide if it wants trams, Devolution Secretary says

It is up to the people of Leeds whether they want to spend regional funding on a tram system for West Yorkshire, the Cabinet minister in charge of devolution has said.

Mayor Tracy Brabin has pledged to bring trams back to the streets of Leeds and Bradford and has staked her reputation on the success of the £2.5bn project.

The funding includes £2.1bn from Chancellor Rachel Reeves for transport in West Yorkshire up to 2032, as well as an extra £500m for the West Yorkshire Combined Authority to raise.

Ms Brabin has promised to get spades in the ground in 2028, the year of her reelection campaign as mayor, for routes from Leeds station to the White Rose Centre and on to Bradford.

However, controversy has emerged after it was revealed last year that civil servants could overrule Ms Brabin and turn the mass transit system into a bus network.

WYCA was asked to set out an alternative business case for buses, with the Department for Transport the ultimate body to sign off the plans for the scheme.

On a visit to Armley with Chancellor Rachel Reeves, Communities Secretary Steve Reed was asked by The Yorkshire Post whether Whitehall or West Yorkshire should decide on the mass transit network.

He said: “Leeds is the biggest city in Europe without a mass transit system.

“But it will be with devolution for the people of Leeds and the city and region, to take decisions about what they want the money spent on.

“The Government is making millions of pounds available to West Yorkshire and they will look at what they want to bring into the area.

“I know the council leader [Coun James Lewis], who I was speaking to earlier, is very interested in a tram system.

“If that's the thing that people want to do I'm sure it will work with Tracy Brabin, as the Mayor of the region, and they can spend that money on what works best for the people living here.”

Ms Brain said: “As the Secretary of State rightly says, devolution is about local leaders working with local communities to take the big decisions they know are right for their areas.

“We’re putting forward a powerful case to Government for how mass transit – designed and delivered locally – will help us build a better-connected region that transforms lives, grows businesses and boosts the UK economy.

“From the Chancellor of the Exchequer to our local communities, there is a groundswell of support for our ambitious transport plans, and I look forward to getting spades in the ground by 2028 with the backing of this Government.”

Ms Brabin is having to make the case to the DfT that a tram network is worth spending the extra money on, compared to a bus rapid transit system - which would be made of electric trolleybuses or guided busways.

A confidential government review, by the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (Nista), has caused the completion date of the mass transit scheme to be pushed back to the late 2030s.

Certain details of the report have now been revealed by The House magazine, which said it was being driven by a “political agenda rather than a recognised programmatic approach”.

It also said: “There is a need to build the case for trams which has not been completed.

“This is particularly important because the likely cost of a BRT mode is significantly less than for trams and the BRT [bus rapid transit system] benefits:cost ratio is significantly better.”

Ms Reeves has firmly backed the mayor’s tram plans. She told this paper: “Mass transit does not mean a few better buses, mass transit means a tram network.”

However, when quizzed by The Yorkshire Post last month, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander refused to guarantee the £2.5bn scheme would be made up of trams.

She said Ms Brabin was making the case “very powerfully” as to why the scheme should consist of a tram network, but added that the Department for Transport must make sure that taxpayer money is “spent wisely”.

A DfT spokesperson said: "The Government fully supports Mayor Brabin’s ambitions for a world-class mass transit system for West Yorkshire.

“We look forward to receiving West Yorkshire Combined Authority's initial business case for the project later this year.”