Local authorities across the Midlands and North of England are to receive £4.7bn to improve transport following announcement of the launch of a Local Transport Fund.
UK prime minister Rishi Sunak and transport secretary Mark Harper have confirmed that the North will receive £2.5bn and the Midlands will receive £2.2bn in redirected HS2 funding from April 2025 to improve local transport connections across smaller cities, towns, and rural areas.
The investment – announced as part of Network North and claimed to be ‘the first transport budget of its kind’ – aims to deliver an ‘unprecedented long-term funding uplift’ across the North and Midlands over seven years.
According to the government, from 2025 to 2032, the funding will be, on average, at least nine times more than local authorities in those parts of the country currently receive through the local integrated transport block, which is the current mechanism for funding local transport improvements in their areas.
Sunak said: “The Local Transport Fund will deliver a new era of transport connectivity.
“This unprecedented investment will benefit more people, in more places, more quickly than HS2 ever would have done, and comes alongside the billions of pound worth of funding we’ve already invested into our roads, buses and local transport services across the country.”
Possible transport improvements eligible under the scheme include building new roads and improving junctions; installing or expanding mass transit systems; improving roads by filling in potholes and better street lighting for personal safety; improving journey times for car and bus users by tackling congestion; increasing the number of EV chargepoints; refurbishing bus and rail stations; and improving streets so they are safer to walk children to school and increasing accessibility for all users.
To help local authorities make the most of the funding, the UK Department for Transport will publish advice for local councils and transport authorities to help them develop plans to improve local transport infrastructure in their areas.
Councils will work with local MPs and will reportedly be held to account by the government to make sure the money is spent ‘promptly and effectively’.
Local councils will also be expected to publish their delivery plans for which projects they wish to invest in.
The fund is also specifically for communities in the North and Midlands that are outside city regions, which receive City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements.
Achievements and innovations in sustainable urban mobility will be celebrated at the third annual CiTTi Awards, which will be held on 26 November 2024 at the De Vere Grand Connaught Rooms in London. Nominations officially open in March 2024. Please visit www.cittiawards.co.uk to learn more about this unmissable event for the UK’s transportation sector.
