The opening of the long-awaited Leeds tram system has been pushed back by at least two to three years, after a government review of the £2.5bn project.
The West Yorkshire combined authority (WYCA) said its mass transit scheme, including new tram lines connecting Leeds and Bradford, would now be completed in the late 2030s.
West Yorkshire’s mayor, Tracy Brabin, said she was fully confident that she would be “driving this tram” by the end of the next decade, despite fears that the delay could lead to the whole scheme being cancelled.
She said the new timeline would “help offer certainty” for the tram at the heart of plans for an integrated transport network with the region’s buses, which are being brought under local control.
The review of the mass transit project, conducted by Nista, the government’s new arm’s length infrastructure advisory unit, is understood to have demanded an initial business case submission for the scheme before further planning work.
Brabin said: “We wanted to try something new. That’s not the way it’s going to be. That’s fine. But we will continue to innovate throughout the process and with government by our side – the last thing we want to be doing is fighting government, which we’re not.”
The rail minister, Peter Hendy, said the government supported the tram but he was “pleased that WYCA are taking a robust approach to planning the schedule for the scheme, based on the tried-and-tested approach for delivering major infrastructure. By building on these foundations the mayor is in a strong position to deliver a world-class transport system that will serve West Yorkshire for generations to come.”
In a letter sent on Wednesday to Brabin, Lord Hendy said the scheme remained “a vital part of our government’s ambition for your region”, adding that he shared Brabin’s frustration at the length of time it was taking to develop infrastructure and pledged to help to find ways to accelerate its delivery.
Brabin said: “While the new timeline helps offer certainty for the scheme, I am also pleased that ministers have committed to working with us to cut red tape and put tracks on the ground as quickly as possible.”
Leeds is the largest city in Europe without a light rail or metro public transport network after its trams were axed in 1959. Plans to restore trams have long been thwarted, including the approval of a Supertram scheme that was shelved in 2005 as too expensive and a proposed trolleybus network that was rejected in 2016.
She added: “It’s disappointing because this has been promised twice. So people are understandably cynical. This is not about cancellation. It is about re-sequencing that’s going to add a bit of time.”
West Yorkshire consulted last year on 10 possible routes to connect Leeds and Bradford, with £200m of early funding. Further development of the Mass Transit scheme has been funded as part of the regions £2.1bn transport allocation from 2027 to 2032.
Conservatives in Leeds said the new delay put the scheme in jeopardy. Alan Lamb, the city council’s Conservative group leader, told the BBC: “I think they’ve put a nail in the coffin of mass transit in West Yorkshire. It’s like Leeds Supertram and HS2 all over again.”
Brabin said: “We deserve a transport system that’s equivalent to London. At the end of the 2030s, I’m going to be driving this tram.”
