'Slap in face' for region as Ministers axe Supertram

[richard]

Loss of scheme could cost Yorkshire £2.4bn in investment Commuters are told: Catch the bus

COMMUTERS have been bluntly told to catch the bus after the Government killed off Leeds Supertram yesterday despite warnings it could wreck a massive £2.4bn investment in Yorkshire.

Furious political and business leaders criticised the "short-sighted" decision saying it would damage regional growth, hitting out at huge sums spent in the South, while Friends of the Earth warned the Government had to provide money for alternatives to cars.

Transport Secretary Alistair Darling delivered the death blow to the scheme even though it threatens huge investment in Leeds that could create 32,000 jobs – needed for the continuing economic success of the city and Yorkshire.

In a further blow, Mr Darling told commuters to catch the bus instead by backing what he called a "top-of-the-range" system without any firm pledge of cash for what regional transport chiefs called a second-best option.

Trams have proved to be more popular than buses with 65 per cent of people with access to cars preferring to travel on them – and only 10 per cent on buses.
The Minister claimed costs had soared by nearly 40 per cent but he was accused of changing accounting rules.

Ministers pledged £355m towards the cost in 2001 but this was changed to a Private Finance Initiative deal where the bill would be paid over a longer period, costing more.

Strong transport links in Leeds are vital with 32,000 jobs set to be created in the city in the next decade – 70 per cent of them filled from outside. The predicted total represents 40 per cent of all Yorkshire's new jobs.

Greg Mulholland, Liberal Democrat MP for Leeds North West, warned developers could pull out of projects and highlighted concerns that the London Olympics in 2012 could be affecting funding.

"Alistair Darling giving £500m to pay for a ticket office at Kings Cross in London and we are not granted £355m for a tram system. That gives you an idea of the Government priorities and frankly it stinks.

"There is a concern that certain projects which may have gone ahead may not now because of the need to pump money into the Olympics."

Wayne Bowser, Leeds Chamber of Commerce president, said: "The current system isn't coping well, particularly at peak travel times – adding more buses onto already congested roads isn't going to solve the city's transport problems."

Leeds Council leader Mark Harris said: "To know that all this work has come to nothing is a slap in the face."

He said an alternative way forward would be found.

Leeds Central MP and Labour Cabinet minister Hilary Benn in whose constituency the first Supertram route would have been built, described it as "a sad day" but agreed with Mr Darling's decision and welcomed his support for a bus scheme.

Mr Darling claimed the tram was not "value for money" with a price tag now of £486m compared with the approved figure of £355m in 2001, and that a "showcase" bus scheme would deliver benefits at half the cost.

He offered the prospect of funding and the carrot of additional powers over services which, in effect, would turn back the clock over regulation of buses.

The decision also comes as South Yorkshire awaits a Government ruling on plans to extend the Sheffield Supertram network.


Source
William Green
yorkshiretoday.co.uk