Transport spending in London is triple that found in the Midlands and north of England, figures have revealed.
Analysis by the Passenger Transport Executive Group (pteg) of the Treasury’s public expenditure figures for 2010/11, showed spending on transport in London stands at £774 per head compared with £285 per head for the West Midlands and the North of England combined.
The gap has widened since the previous years’ figures with spend in London rising from £721 per head to £774 per head, while the spend in the west Midlands and north of England has fallen from £302 to £285 per head.
The figures, analysed in pteg's 'funding gap' report, broke down to £255 per head for the north east, £337 for the north west, £276 for Yorkshire and Humberside, and £242 for the west Midlands.
Chair of pteg, Geoff Inskip, said: ‘We fully accept that London needs and deserves high quality public transport.
'However, if we are going to rebalance the economy then we need the right balance on transport spending. Our major regional cities are economic powerhouses and a greater level of transport investment is needed in cities like Leeds, Newcastle, Manchester, Sheffield, Liverpool and Birmingham if we are to tackle imbalances in the national economy and by doing so ensure that the whole country can fulfil its economic potential.’
‘The Government’s support for High Speed Two, for the overhaul of the Tyne and Wear Metro, for Birmingham New Street and for the roll out of tram networks like Manchester Metrolink, all show that the Government is supporting public transport in the cities. However we need to keep up the pace on investment of that scale if the funding gap isn’t to continue to grow in a divisive and disproportionate way.’
