New, ‘ground-breaking’ transport powers have been handed down from Whitehall to England’s core city-regions, following a further roll out of the Government’s City Deals announced on 5 July.
Devolved transport budgets have been unveiled for Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds and Sheffield, while responsibility for commissioning and managing franchise arrangements for local and regional rail services has been devolved to Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield.
The Government also announced that ‘self-sustaining investment funds’ to be spent on ‘local priority projects’ would be provided for Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool and Sheffield.
In one of the largest deals, the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, which brings together 11 local councils in the Leeds city-region, has been handed a £1bn fund for investment in public transport and the local highways network – potentially creating 20,000 jobs in the medium term, council officials claimed.
A further £400m fund would be available ‘to modernise infrastructure’ across the Leeds city-region, officials revealed.
Leader of Leeds City Council, Cllr Keith Wakefield, said: ‘The deal gives us the opportunity and means to transform our transport system so that travel to other city-regions becomes easier and faster.’
Sheffield region’s City Deal could allow the South Yorkshire Combined Authority to access at least £500m of devolved transport funding over the next 10 years, through the Sheffield Investment Fund.
Sheffield City Council officials say they aim to make the £500m fund – consisting of pre-allocated funding now devolved to create a single cash-pot under the City Deal – self-sustaining by bringing in partners on a range of transport projects. These include a tram-train system linking Sheffield with Rotherham, a smart ticketing system for the area, and a train link to the High Speed Rail 2 project.
Chairman of the Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership, James Newman, said: ‘This deal is essential to achieving our growth potential, and evolves the power to make transport decisions which focus on growing the city region’s economy.’
Deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, added: ‘These ground-breaking deals signal a dramatic power shift, freeing cities from Whitehall control… Over coming months, we are transferring more power from Whitehall to these cities.’
Cllr Peter Box, chair of the LGA’s economy and transport board, said: ‘Town hall leaders now want to see progress from the Government on confirming the next round of City Deals – in addition to “local growth deals” for counties and other places seeking them.’
