Chancellor Rachel Reeves has announced £15.6bn for nine mayoral strategic authorities.
Ahead of the spending review next week, Ms Reeves confirmed the new Transport for City Regions (TCR) settlements, which will support a host of projects including ‘new trams, new train stations, and bus routes to link up our towns and cities’.
The cash serves as an expansion of the previous City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS) funds, which did not include the East of England.
The areas now eligible for the money are:
• West Midlands, which will receive £2.4bn for projects including a metro extension connecting Birmingham City Centre to new sports quarter
• West Yorkshire, which is getting £2.1bn, some of which will be used to start building West Yorkshire Mass Transit by 2028, with aim for first services by mid-2030s
• Greater Manchester, which is seeing £2.5bn of investment into major infrastructure projects, including growing and transforming the Metrolink tram network, with new tram stops and a fully electric Bee Network
• South Yorkshire, which will use some of the £1.5bn it will receive to renew the tram network and reform South Yorkshire’s buses, amongst other projects.
• Liverpool City Region, which plans to use part of its £1.6bn for three new bus rapid transit routes, the purchasing of a new fleet of buses for the city region’s franchised bus network
• North East, which will receive £1.8bn for a metro extension linking Newcastle and Sunderland via Washington
• West of England, which will receive £800m to improve rail infrastructure across the region and for mass transit development between Bristol, Bath, South Gloucestershire and North Somerset.
• Tees Valley, which plans to use part of its £1bn for the platform 3 extension at Middlesborough station
• East Midlands, which is being given £2bn that it intends to use for designing a new mass transit system to connect Derby and Nottingham, encompassing road, rail and bus improvements across the Trent Arc corridor.
Colette Carroll, managing director for Transportation, UK and Ireland for AtkinsRéalis, said: ‘Today’s announcement by the Government is confirmation that investment in local and regional infrastructure is essential for economic growth and will bring benefits for communities across the country.
‘Many of the schemes that could secure funding from today’s announcements will act as a vehicle for city-wide regeneration programmes: the prospect of greater transport links will positively impact investor confidence and supply chain certainty, and allow companies to invest in skills to drive better economic outcomes across the country.’
Ben Plowden, chief executive of Campaign for Better Transport, said: ‘It’s great to see the Government investing in the local transport infrastructure. We hope to see similar commitments to revenue funding in next week’s Spending Review, alongside support for local authorities to plan, deliver and run the high-quality transport services their communities need.’
