West Yorkshire transport projects delayed to save £270m

Abstract

West Yorkshire Combined Authority has agreed to pause more than 30 schemes to save £270m and create headroom for other projects to proceed. The delays agreed by the WYCA finance committee will affect road-widening projects, park and ride schemes and railway station redevelopment. The £23m Halifax Station Gateway will also be paused along with two Bus Park and Ride, and five Rail Park and Ride schemes. Mayor Tracy Brabin said: "As a Mayoral Combined Authority, we are one of the first to be acting so swiftly and so collaborative to get this tricky piece of work over the line. Director of Delivery Malanie Corcoran said that the schemes would be added to a paused pipeline and taken to outline or final business case to allow a quick start if funding becomes available at a later date. The authority's £1bn transport programme currently has over-programming of £151m, which could potentially increase in the near future to £215m due to the impact of current inflation rates. The committee was told that over-programming needs to be reduced and headroom created within the programme to fund unforeseen cost rises expected in the coming 12-18 months due to inflation rises.