Transport Insights

The shambles that is West Yorkshire mass transit continues with the departure of another top transport official at the region’s combined authority and “the Cabinet minister in charge of devolution” apparently joining in the row about whether it will be trams.

Three years after being appointed as West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s first executive director for transport “in a move to bolster the top team”, Simon Warburton is following mass transit director Mike Birch out the door. He wrote on LinkedIn:

… with a strong team in place to deliver on the Mayor’s vision for a modern transport system in the region, including mass transit and a franchised bus system, I have decided to move on to pursue the next stage in my career.

Meanwhile, the Yorkshire Post which has chronicled the different views of government ministers and West Yorkshire mayor Tracy Brabin, quotes communities secretary Steve Reed as saying that “it is up to the people of Leeds” whether they want to spend regional funding on a tram system for West Yorkshire.

I’m not so sure. For a start, as Reed acknowledged, West Yorkshire is more than just Leeds, and the region’s mass transit scheme also includes adjacent Bradford.

On a visit to Armley with Chancellor Rachel Reeves, Communities Secretary Steve Reed was asked by The Yorkshire Post whether Whitehall or West Yorkshire should decide on the mass transit network.

He said: “Leeds is the biggest city in Europe without a mass transit system.

“But it will be with devolution for the people of Leeds and the city and region, to take decisions about what they want the money spent on.

“The Government is making millions of pounds available to West Yorkshire and they will look at what they want to bring into the area.

“I know the council leader [Coun James Lewis], who I was speaking to earlier, is very interested in a tram system.

“If that’s the thing that people want to do I’m sure it will work with Tracy Brabin, as the Mayor of the region, and they can spend that money on what works best for the people living here.”

Unsurprisingly, Brabin agreed with the idea that “devolution is about local leaders working with local communities to take the big decisions they know are right for their areas”, but is that what Reed said about mass transit specifically?

His syntax, specifically “it will be with devolution for the people of Leeds”, is terrible and it’s not clear if he is talking about devolution as it exists or a future model of devolution where mayors have more powers.

And when Reed says “I’m sure it will work with Tracy Brabin” etc, who is “it”?

Ultimately, “to take decisions about what they want the money spent on” is a right to express a preference and “they can spend that money on what works best for the people living here” leaves open the possibility that someone else decides what works best.

Neither means that local people will decide what actually happens.