Urban authorities are pressing ahead with plans for new and extended tram services, despite transport secretary Alistair Darling’s recent rejection of a string of schemes.
The submissions will test Whitehall’s support for putting money into light rail projects. They follow the publication of an internal Department for Transport report showing that officials advised Darling, prior to his withdrawing funding support for the Leeds Supertram, that the scheme represented good value for money.
Local transport plans covering the next five years for Greater Nottingham, South Yorkshire, and Merseyside, submitted to Whitehall last week, all contain proposals for new or extended light rail services.
Over the past two years, Darling has vetoed tram schemes in Leeds, Liverpool and South Hampshire, and told the ~Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive~ to scale back its plans to extend the Metrolink network.
The new LTPs include:
• Phase two of the Nottingham Express Transit, consisting of two routes running south from the city centre to park and ride sites in Beeston and Clifton;
• The £108M extension of the Sheffield Supertram to Rotherham town centre via the Lower Don Valley regeneration zone;
• The Merseyside LTP restates the conurbation’s backing for the Merseytram line one project. But it says the authorities will submit a review of the Merseytram Line 1 scheme, which was rejected by Darling on cost grounds last year, to the DfT in July;
• Greater Manchester PTE has expressed confidence that it will receive the green light from the DfT to extend its Metrolink system.
The Manchester, Nottingham and South Yorkshire schemes have all been identified as regional transport funding priorities.
Nottingham council is proposing to address DfT concerns about value for money with a proposal to involve the NET phase two developer at the design stage.
The LTP submissions follow publication of a confidential DfT report, which shows that Darling was advised by his officials that the Leeds Supertram was good value for money in the run-up to his decision to scrap the scheme.
The report, which appeared on the DfT website following a Freedom of Information Act request by the Yorkshire Evening Post, says that the £400M scheme offered ‘high value for money’.
It adds that the benefits of the scheme outweighed the cost by a factor of 2.4, without taking into account the non-monetary benefits, such as the creation of 140 new jobs in regeneration areas. However, it advises that the cheaper bus alternatives ‘may offer even better value for money’.
The Passenger Transport Executive Group welcomed the moves by urban authorities to press ahead with light rail schemes.
Pteg chair Rob Donald, launching a brochure on the benefits of trams last week, said: ‘Despite recent setbacks, the evidence clearly shows that modern trams are the right option for some of our busiest urban areas. Trams attract motorists out of their cars, help stimulate and shape the regeneration of our cities, and they also offer good value for money.’