Yorkshire and the Humber is set to receive almost £950 million from the Government to help improve local transport connections from reallocated funding from what was supposed to be the Northern leg of HS2.
On Monday 26 February, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Transport Secretary Mark Harper confirmed Yorkshire and the Humber will receive a £947 million financial boost from April 2025 through the Local Transport Fund to improve transport connections in the North of England.
Announced as part of Network North, the new investment, which is the first of its kind, will provide a funding uplift across the region over seven years, targeting smaller cities, towns and rural areas to empower local communities outside of major city regions.
“We welcome this funding for our local transport areas as a sign of progress towards transforming the north to a more inclusive, sustainable and better-connected region.”
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: “We have a clear plan to level up our country with greater transport links that people need and deliver the right long-term change for a brighter future.
“Through reallocating HS2 funding, we’re not only investing nearly £1 billion directly back into our smaller cities, towns and rural areas across Yorkshire and the Humber, but we are also empowering their local leaders to invest in the transport projects that matters most to them.
“The Local Transport Fund will deliver a new era of transport connectivity. This unprecedented investment will benefit more people, in more places, more quickly than HS2 ever would have done, and comes alongside the billions of pounds of funding we’ve already invested into our roads, buses and local transport services across the country.”
The initiative will provide, on average, at least nine times more funding than local authorities currently receive through the local integrated transport block, which is the current mechanism for funding local transport improvements.
The investment aims give local authorities the ability to make transformative and ambitious long-term transport improvements from 2025 through to 2032 including:
- Building new roads and improving junctions
- Installing or expanding mass transit systems
- Improving roads by filling in potholes and better street lighting for personal safety
- Improving journey times for car and bus users by tackling congestion
- Increasing the number of EV chargepoints
- Refurbishing bus and rail stations
- Improving our streets so they are safer to walk children to school and increasing accessibility for all.
Councils will work with local MPs whilst being held to account by the government and their communities to make sure the money is spent effectively, with the expectation of publishing delivery plans for the projects they wish to invest in.
Transport Secretary Mark Harper said: “Today’s £947 million investment is truly game-changing for the smaller cities, towns, and rural communities across Yorkshire and the Humber, and is only possible because this Government has a plan to improve local transport and is willing to take tough decisions like reallocating funding from the second phase of HS2.
“This new funding boost will make a real difference to millions of people living across Yorkshire and the Humber, empowering local authorities to drive economic growth, transform communities, and improve the daily transport connections that people rely on for years to come.”
“The Local Transport Fund will deliver a new era of transport connectivity. This unprecedented investment will benefit more people, in more places, more quickly than HS2 ever would have done.”
The Government have said the Local Transport Fund is directed to the North and Midlands as the majority of HS2 cuts were from those regions, to demonstrate their commitment to reinvesting all £19.8 billion from the Northern leg of HS2 in the North, and £9.6 billion from the Midlands leg in the Midlands.
Lord Patrick McLoughlin, Chair of Transport for the North, said: “We welcome this funding for our local transport areas as a sign of progress towards transforming the north to a more inclusive, sustainable and better-connected region. By having greater clarity on the funding that’s available, and consolidating funding streams, it helps remove inertia and accelerates delivery on the ground.
“TfN look forward to working with government and local leaders, because we know that the travelling public will get better results the more locally the decisions are made on how those services should be provided.”
This announcement also follows £991 million being allocated for resurfacing hundreds of miles of local roads across Yorkshire and the Humber, as well as £200 million to extend the £2 bus fare cap in England outside London until the end of 2024 and £1 billion to improve bus services in the North and the Midlands, all from reallocated HS2 funding.
For more information about the funding plans, click here.
