Rachel Reeves reveals £15,000,000,000 transport projects – here’s what we know

Eight regions in the UK are set to receive £15 billion in investment to improve their tram, train and bus connections.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has announced the cash injection to boost public transport in the North and Midlands nearly two weeks after South Western Railway became the first train operator to be nationalised.

Greater Manchester has been awarded the highest amount of funding with £2.5 billion earmarked to extend its network to Stockport and add stops in Bury, Manchester and Oldham. The West Midlands follows behind, with a £2.4 billion boost to extend services from Birmingham city centre to the new sports quarter.

The funding announcement comes ahead of Reeves’ spending review next week, which will set out how much money the government is going to spend on the NHS and other public services.

Speaking in Rochdale today, Reeves said she was making the announcement because ‘connectivity is an absolutely critical factor in unlocking the potential of towns and cities outside of London.’

She added: ‘Stronger transport links within cities and the towns around them create opportunity by connecting labour markets and make it easier for firms to buy and sell goods and services in different places, to different people.

‘We want London to succeed. But it is the lack of that infrastructure which puts England’s other great cities – Birmingham, Liverpool, Newcastle – at a disadvantage compared to their European counterparts that have this infrastructure. 

‘That helps to explain our underperformance relative to other European economies.’

Here is a breakdown of how much each region will get and how the money will be spent.

Greater Manchester

The region will receive £2.5 billion to electrify the city’s buses, open new tram stops in Manchester, Bury and Oldham, and bring the existing local rail lines and stations into the Bee Network.

The network, named after the city’s emblem the worker bee, is the integration of the rail, tram and bus services under one umbrella where passengers can travel seamlessly on all transport using a contactless card, Apple watch or phone.

Fares will be capped and it will operate in a similar way to London’s Transport for London network.

The funding also allows the city’s tram network to be extended to Stockport, something that locals have urged for several times over the years. Reeves said the extension will give people shorter commutes to central Manchester.

Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham said: ‘With a pipeline of major transport projects better connecting our towns and cities, and local rail lines brought into the Bee Network, our communities will be the first outside London to be served by fully joined-up bike, bus, tram and train travel.’

Liverpool City region

The region is set to receive £1.6 billion to build new rapid transit links to the John Lennon Airport, Everton and Anfield, plus a new bus fleet serving the Wirral and St Helens.

Steve Rotheram, the mayor of the Liverpool City Region, welcomed it as the ‘biggest ever investment in transport spending.’

West Midlands

West Midlands will receive £2.4 billion, which is earmarked for the metro extension from Birmingham city centre to the new sports quarter.

The metro extension will have more than 80 tram stops and over 20 interchanges to link Wolverhampton, Birmingham, Dudley, Brierley Hill, Digbeth, North Solihull, Birmingham Airport, the NEC conference centre and HS2.

East Midlands

People between Derby and Nottingham will have a tram system, for which the Chancellor pledged £2 billion.

There will also be rail, road and bus improvements.

West Yorkshire

The money – £2.1 billion – will help the mayor, Tracy Brabin, deliver the area’s ‘mass transit system,’ Reeves said.

Works for the West Yorkshire Mass Transit system are set to start by 2028, and be operational before the mid-2030s.

The proposed light rail-style system will connect Leeds with cities and towns like Bradford, Huddersfield, Leeds Bradford Airport, Wakefield and Halifax.

Leeds is the biggest city in western Europe without a mass transport system, such as a light rail.

South Yorkshire

South Yorkshire has been pledged £1.5 billion in investment, of which £530 million will be used to upgrade the trams.

North East

Tees Valley is in line for £1 billion for transport projects, while Tyne and Wear will receive £1.85 billion.

The Tees Valley funding will pay for a new platform at Middlesborough train station to boost commuter capacity, redevelopment of the bus station, a tram connecting Teesside Airport and towns in the area, a new station at Tessside Park, and upgrades on the A66 and A689.

West of England

The region will receive £800 million, with £200 million used to build mass transit links between Bristol, Bath, South Gloucestershire and north Somerset.

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said: ‘Today marks a watershed moment on our journey to improving transport across the North and Midlands – opening up access to jobs, growing the economy and driving up quality of life as we deliver our Plan for Change.

‘For too long, people in the North and Midlands have been locked out of the investment they deserve. With £15.6bn of Government investment, we’re giving local leaders the means to drive cities, towns and communities forward, investing in Britain’s renewal so you and your family are better off.’

The British Chambers of Commerce welcomed the boost to regional infrastructure.

Jonny Haseldine, head of business at the BCC, said: ‘The pathway to the strong and consistent growth the UK economy needs has to come through investment in our regions.

 ‘That means developing regional infrastructure, including transport projects and grid connectivity, improved rail capacity and electrification of key sections of the network.

 ‘These projects can then give firms involved in the supply chains real confidence to start planning and investing in their local economies.’

But London Assembly members said that London ‘cannot be passed over’ in the spending announcement.

Elly Baker, the London Assembly Labour, said: ‘Every part of the country deserves access to a properly funded transport system so people can go to work, visit loved ones and enjoy their city.

‘But London needs its fair share.

‘We’ve got shovel ready projects like the Bakerloo line extension, West London Orbital and DLR extension to Thamesmead that would connect parts of Outer London to the rest of the city.

‘We also need sustainable, multi-year funding to invest in maintenance projects that replace old tube trains and buses – keeping our transport network at its current level.’

The Chancellor’s plans will face further scrutiny next week as part of the spending review.

She has said there are no plans to hike taxes on the same scale that took place at last year’s autumn budget, but is expected to outline how the U-turn on winter fuel payments will be funded after concerns this could be through a tax rise.

‘We have absolutely no intention of repeating a budget on that scale again,’ she said.

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