Transport Insights

The senior councillor who called out West Yorkshire mayor Tracy Brabin over her “dishonest” presentation of the secret report into her mass transit plans has renewed his call for it to be published in full and criticised her for engaging in “spin over substance”.

The statement from Cllr Alan Lamb, leader of the Conservative group on the West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA), followed the leaking of the report to The House magazine, although he did not mention it directly.

Lamb said:

I still cannot disclose the contents of the Independent Peer Review. But I can say it made material recommendations about governance, the business case and other key matters. We know those findings directly preceded the Government’s decision to delay the programme. That matters because residents were told publicly – with great confidence – that spades would be in the ground in 2028. If there is a gap between public certainty and private evidence, that gap must be addressed openly.

The “peer review” by the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority is reported to have criticised Brabin for focusing on an “unrealistic milestone” of “spades in the ground” by 2028, which it warned could be followed by a significant and costly gap before “the start of actual work”.

Lamb added:

It should not take a Freedom of Information request for the public to be able to read the full report, and I am renewing my call on the Mayor to publish it in full.

I am pro mass transit and want to see it delivered, but I will not support spin over substance.

The WYCA has previously refused to refuse the report under the Freedom of Information Act on the grounds that for the public to know the truth about its plans would cause them to lose confidence in them, effectively justifying Lamb’s claim that “mass transit is in peril”.

Despite the leak appearing to show exactly how “unrealistic” the plans were, it has not changed its position either on “spades in the ground” or disclosure of the report.