Yorkshire left in slow lane once again as key transport projects called off: Jayne Dowle

As the largest county in the UK, with more than five million people who need to get to work, school, college, and to travel for leisure and pleasure ideally in a practical and timely fashion from all points north, south, east and west, we need our transport network to be as connected as possible.

Putting up a red light to so many major schemes in West Yorkshire, including proposed improvements to Halifax train station (the Halifax Station Gateway, budgeted to cost £10m), the £47.9m Bradford to Shipley Corridor, intended to tackle the terrible congestion on this key major road, and the £3m Leeds Inland Port, in Stourton, Leeds, which could bring much-needed jobs and economic development and also help reduce freight pressure on the roads by reinventing the waterways for the 21st century, is very worrying indeed.

When planners and bosses at major decision-making bodies, including the West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) run by political leaders across the sub-region, are dealing with project priorities, they often use a decision-making tool which centres on what is ‘vital’ and what is ‘nice to have’.

If push comes to shove and budgets are squeezed ‘the nice to haves’ are typically the first to go.

I would argue, certainly after speaking with friends and professional contacts who live and work in West Yorkshire, that all of the transport projects I’ve mentioned, and many more, definitely fall into the ‘vital’ category.

WYCA says these curtailments will free up £266m, which can be spent on “key transport priorities” that are currently in development and “ease the immediate pressure on budgets” caused by inflation.

Local people in West Yorkshire might well be wondering what these “key transport priorities” are, when they find themselves stuck on a bus in yet another traffic jam in Shipley. Or are stood waiting, yet again, for a train that never comes at an unmanned railway station which feels more like a dangerous outpost at the edge of the world than just a few miles from Leeds or Bradford.

Record levels of inflation, combined with the knock-on effects of Brexit, the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, are all being held to blame for this major setback because “they are having a significant impact on the costs of infrastructure projects across the country”.

Yes, it is true to say that we all know that sacrifices must be made in this winter of growing discontent.

However, it seems particularly insidious that huge swathes of Northern England – for it’s certainly not only West Yorkshire transport infrastructure suffering from decades of neglect and under-investment – are finding themselves more marooned every day whilst the Westminster Government still seems incapable of making a decision over the future of HS2.

Only a few weeks ago, Andrew Gilligan, a member of Boris Johnson’s team when he was prime minister and a long-time opponent of the HS2 project, called for immediate cancellation of the high-speed rail scheme not already under construction.

The aim of this would be to save Government money, obviously. But just imagine what could be done with the spare change from a total HS2 budget standing in excess of £40bn.

The problem is, obdurate policy-makers are simply refusing to consider the post-pandemic shift in attitude towards a London-centric economy. The prospect of ‘zombie offices’ acres of empty office space in central London, is becoming a real one. A couple of weeks ago, Deloitte reported an expected 10 per cent fall in demand for London office space, as flexible and hybrid working patterns become established. If people are staying closer to home, surely it makes sense to connect them all together?

Drastic times call for drastic decisions. Whilst the North of England staggers through winter, when weather makes trying to get from A to B even more perilous, Westminster is dallying when it could be surely diverting funds to more pressing needs than backing faster trains to and from London.

Certainly, for such a small country as the UK, it is deeply unfair to allow huge parts of it to literally grind to a halt whilst others – such as the West Midlands city of Birmingham – are supported to prosper.

Digging deep to find extra cash to support connective transport projects in the North of England should not seem like an indulgence to central Government. Yet all too often it feels like one.

Why are they so blind to see that improved road and rail links, plus imaginative initiatives to encourage cycling, walking, car-sharing and Park and Ride schemes would help to make us perform better economically?

More people would be encouraged to seek work within reasonable commuting distance, paying taxes and contributing meaningfully to civic life. And better transport would also bring life and hope to cut-off towns and villages, facing yet further isolation as services themselves are hit by budget cuts and strike action. It is in no-one’s interest to leave these ‘left behind’ communities in the sidings for ever.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​