\n<\/p>\n
The opening of the long-awaited Leeds tram system has been pushed back by at least two to three years, after a government review of the \u00a32.5bn project.<\/p>\n
The West Yorkshire combined authority (WYCA) said its mass transit scheme, including new tram lines connecting Leeds and Bradford, would now be completed in the late 2030s.<\/p>\n
West Yorkshire\u2019s mayor, Tracy Brabin, said she was fully confident that she would be \u201cdriving this tram\u201d by the end of the next decade, despite fears that the delay could lead to the whole scheme being cancelled.<\/p>\n
She said the new timeline would \u201chelp offer certainty\u201d for the tram at the heart of plans for an integrated transport network with the region\u2019s buses, which are now under local control.<\/p>\n
The review of the mass transit project, conducted by Nista, the government\u2019s new arm\u2019s length infrastructure advisory unit, is understood to have demanded that a full business case for the scheme be submitted before further planning work.<\/p>\n
Brabin said: \u201cWe wanted to try something new. That\u2019s not the way it\u2019s going to be. That\u2019s fine. But we will continue to innovate throughout the process and with government by our side \u2013 the last thing we want to be doing is fighting government, which we\u2019re not.\u201d<\/p>\n
The rail minister, Peter Hendy, said the government supported the tram but he was \u201cpleased that WYCA are taking a robust approach to planning the schedule for the scheme, based on the tried-and-tested approach for delivering major infrastructure. By building on these foundations the mayor is in a strong position to deliver a world-class transport system that will serve West Yorkshire for generations to come.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a letter sent on Wednesday to Brabin, Lord Hendy said the scheme remained \u201ca vital part of our government\u2019s ambition for your region\u201d, adding that he shared Brabin\u2019s frustration at the length of time it was taking to develop infrastructure and pledged to help to find ways to accelerate its delivery.<\/p>\n
Brabin said: \u201cWhile the new timeline helps offer certainty for the scheme, I am also pleased that ministers have committed to working with us to cut red tape and put tracks on the ground as quickly as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/span>Trams on Boar Lane, Leeds, in July 1921. <\/span> Photograph: Topical Press Agency\/Getty<\/p>\n Leeds is the largest city in Europe without a light rail or metro public transport network after its trams were axed in 1959. Plans to restore trams have long been thwarted, including the approval of a Supertram scheme that was shelved in 2005 as too expensive and a proposed trolleybus network that was rejected in 2016.<\/p>\n She added: \u201cIt\u2019s disappointing because this has been promised twice. So people are understandably cynical. This is not about cancellation. It is about re-sequencing that\u2019s going to add a bit of time.\u201d<\/p>\n West Yorkshire consulted last year on 10 possible routes to connect Leeds and Bradford, with \u00a3200m of early funding. Further development of the Mass Transit scheme has been funded as part of the regions \u00a32.1bn transport allocation from 2027 to 2032.<\/p>\n Conservatives in Leeds said the new delay put the scheme in jeopardy. Alan Lamb, the city council\u2019s Conservative group leader, told the BBC: \u201cI think they\u2019ve put a nail in the coffin of mass transit in West Yorkshire. It\u2019s like Leeds Supertram and HS2 all over again.\u201d<\/p>\n Brabin said: \u201cWe deserve a transport system that\u2019s equivalent to London. At the end of the 2030s, I\u2019m going to be driving this tram.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The opening of the long-awaited Leeds tram system has been pushed back by at least two to three years, after a government review of the \u00a32.5bn project. The West Yorkshire combined authority (WYCA) said its mass transit scheme, including new tram lines connecting Leeds and Bradford, would now be completed in the late 2030s. West<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38063,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[14556,20926,1016,558,427,3196,1397,1085,4141,20925],"class_list":{"0":"post-38062","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics","8":"tag-2-5bn","9":"tag-2030s","10":"tag-delayed","11":"tag-government","12":"tag-infrastructure","13":"tag-late","14":"tag-leeds","15":"tag-review","16":"tag-scheme","17":"tag-tram"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=38062"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38062\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/38063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=38062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=38062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}