£2.5bn tram plan delayed after government review

A planned tram system for West Yorkshire has been delayed after the government carried out a review of the project.

West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) had hoped that trams would be running on two lines in Leeds and Bradford in the early 2030s, however it is now likely to be the late 2030s.

The government had promised £2.1bn for the mass transit system, but has now told WYCA to take a more thorough approach to the development of the scheme.

West Yorkshire's mayor Tracy Brabin said she was frustrated by the delay, but added that she still believed the tram system would be in place eventually and there remained a "commitment" to ensure it happened.

To speed up delivery of the project, WYCA had hoped to plan the detail of the route while also submitting the business case for the system to the government, but it has now agreed to separate those two elements of the process.

Brabin said: "The review has advised that we take a more sequential approach.

"We had been running an innovative dual-track approach with the planning and the business case at the same time - and there was a risk to that.

"I did say there could be bumps in the road, but our commitment to the people of West Yorkshire is to get a mass transit system up and running by the end of the 2030s."

The tram project would see two lines, one connecting Leeds city centre to Bradford city centre and another one from St James's Hospital in Leeds to the White Rose Centre.

According to WYCA, the scheme would improve local transport for 675,000 people and benefit West Yorkshire's most deprived communities.

There was previously an attempt to build a 17-mile (28km) Supertram system in Leeds in the early 2000s, but it was axed by the Labour government in 2005 when costs began to rise.

A proposed electric bus route powered from overhead wires, known as New Generation Transport, was then promised.

However, that was also scrapped after a planning inspector ruled it was "not in the public interest".

Alan Lamb, Leeds City Council's Conservative group leader, said the new delay to plans for a tram system "feels like history repeating itself".

"It's a huge delay. Costs will go up substantially and it puts the whole scheme in jeopardy," he said.

"I think they've put a nail in the coffin of mass transit in West Yorkshire. It's like Leeds Supertram and HS2 all over again."

Brabin has previously promised that building work for the mass transit network would begin in three years' time and has repeatedly said there would be "spades in the ground in 2028".

Following news of the delay, she said she stood by that commitment, promising "preparatory work in readiness for the tram, so we don't have to do it further down the line".

As part of the programme reset, the Department for Transport is to increase oversight, with Rail Minister Lord Peter Hendy being given ministerial responsibility for the project.

WYCA said the scheme could be added to the government's Major Projects Portfolio, which would "further bolster it as a nationally important infrastructure project".

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