Major funding boost secured for West Yorkshire trams
Ambitious plans to bring trams back to West Yorkshire, and deliver a multibillion-pound boost to the economy, have secured a major funding boost from the government.
The Chancellor Rachel Reeves today (Wednesday 4th June) has announced the allocation of £2.1 billion of local transport funding to West Yorkshire which will enable the Combined Authority to get spades in the ground on West Yorkshire's tram project by 2028.
Speaking ahead of next week's Spending Review, the Chancellor joined West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin at a bus depot in Huddersfield where she unveilled the West Yorkshire's 'transport for city regions' funding for 2027-2032. The funding will also support other vital transport infrastructure projects across the region including new bus stations in Bradford and Wakefield, extensive bus priority measures and cycleways on the A641 and North Kirklees transport corridors, and access improvements to unlock regeneration across six key neighbourhoods bordering on Leeds City Centre.
The first phase of West Yorkshire's Mass Transit network will create two tram lines - a Leeds Line, running from St James’s University Hospital through the city centre to the White Rose, and a Bradford Line, connecting Bradford and Leeds city centres.
This represents the region’s biggest infrastructure project in decades and will form part of an integrated transport network, under the single Weaver Network branding, connecting bus, tram and train services as well as walking and cycling routes.
