Transport Insights

The transport stories you won't see in the industry-friendly media

Author

Chris Ames

Tag: west yorkshire mass transit

  • A sinking ship?

    As the West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) continues to insist that there is nothing to see over the secret report into its mass transit plans, the man in charge of the project is leaving as it is kicked into the long grass.

    In a post on LinkedIn beginning “Time to change direction”, Mike Birch, the authority’s mass transit director has said:

    I have reached the very difficult decision to leave my position as Mass Transit Director at West Yorkshire Combined Authority.

    Since joining the programme early last year, the focus has shifted from an accelerated delivery programme, to one following a more traditional sequential approach. The next few years will now be spent delivering the business case, a very different leadership focus. I am proud to have led this incredible transformative programme, with an amazing dedicated team.

    I will be leaving in mid April, seeking my next challenge……

    When someone leaves a senior post to seek a new challenge, it’s usually a sign that all is not well and in this case, as Birch notes, the project has been “resequenced” so that it will no longer try to do spatial planning with business case development.

    This followed the “peer review” report from the National Infrastructure and Service Tranformation Authority (NISTA), which WYCA has refused to publish on the grounds that it would undermine public confidence in the programme.

    Perhaps the departure of the man who at the helm when the ship hit the iceberg will help?

    Leave a comment

  • WYCA prejudices effective conduct of public affairs

    Alongside West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s (WYCA) refusal to disclose the secret “peer review” into its mass transit plans, it has totally embarrassed itself in its response to a similar request.

    In December someone asked for:

    details of expenditure on consultants and external professional services connected with mass transit activity from January 2024 to present.

    Specifically, please provide: A list of consultancy or professional services suppliers engaged.

    The value and duration of each engagement.

    The procurement route used for each engagement (for example open tender, framework call-off, or direct award).

    The total consultancy expenditure incurred during this period.

    All pretty routine transparency information, you might think. But WYCA responded:

    the information you are seeking may be exempt under Section 36(2) of the FOIA. Information to which this section applies is exempt information if, in the reasonable opinion of a qualified person, disclosure of the information under this Act would or would be likely to prejudice the effective conduct of public affairs.

    (more…)

  • Mass transit could mean a few better buses

    As the West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) continues to hide the independent peer review report into its mass transit plan, suspicions are growing that the underlying problem is an insistence within government that the authority should drop its proposals for trams and settle for a few more buses.

    At a recent meeting of the authority, mayor Tracy Brabin quoted chancellor and Leeds MP Rachel Reeves as saying that “mass transit means trams”, adding that the authority is conscious of the need to prove to government that tram (rather than buses) is the right option.

    As TransportXtra/Local Transport Today pointed out, WYCA’s West Yorkshire Mass Transit: Spatial Development Framework Joint Development Plan, published for consultation a week after the meeting, states:

    Mass Transit is a large-scale public transport system, which may comprise one or more of the following transport technologies: advanced bus rapid transit, light rail, tram or tram-train vehicles.

    Someone should tell Reeves. She stated very clearly to the Yorkshire Post:

    (more…)

  • Mass transit is in peril, WYCA admits

    West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) has refused to disclose the controversial peer review of its mass transit plans on the grounds that disclosure “will impact the programme by a loss of public confidence” – effectively admitting that the review was highly critical of the scheme.

    The admission is a vindication for the Tory councillor who has claimed that WYCA was putting forward a “dishonest” version of the review’s findings and suggests that the outrage that West Yorkshire mayor Tracy Brabin expressed over the suggestion was confected.

    To recap, the review by the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA) led to the WYCA’s plans for mass transit (probably trams) being put back from the early 2030’s to the end of the decade.

    Both Brabin and transport ministers have tried to put a brave face on the situation but have refused to publish the report for various reasons, although it was made available to members of the combined authority.

    At a meeting last month, Cllr Alan Lamb, the leader of the Conservative opposition on Leeds City Council, alleged that the public presentation of the report was “dishonest” and that people needed to see the report itself because it shows that “mass transit is in peril”. Brabin said she was “outraged” by the claim.

    But WYCA has now effectively admitted that this is true and that the situation set out in the report is so dire that the public would lose confidence in the scheme if this were known.

    In response to a freedom of information request, it said:

    on the balance of probabilities releasing the information will impact the programme by a loss of public confidence

    Although the response sought to tie this up with issues around “a free and frank exchange of views by NISTA” and a report “provided in confidence”, it clearly stated that it would be “public confidence” that would be damaged.

    It also referred to:

    the real and significant likelihood that disclosure would prejudice WYCA’s ability to manage and develop a complex, high-value transport programme.

    As Cllr Lamb said “mass transit is in peril” if you look behind the curtain.

    Leave a comment

  • Mather looking increasingly foolish over secrecy claims

    It has been pointed out to me that there is some history behind the refusal of the various authorities to publish the “peer review” into West Yorkshire’s mass transit plans on the grounds that participants should expect confidentiality, with the Information Commissioner rejecting these arguments in a similar case.

    The Commissioner has also made it absolutely clear that authorities cannot withhold whole reports on the grounds that some of its contents need to remain secret.

    Both the West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) and the Department for Transport have refused to publish the entire review by the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA) on various grounds, including a statement from transport minister Keir Mather that:

    All major project reviews undertaken by NISTA are treated as confidential, in the interests of ensuring that everyone involved is able to share their honest feedback. This has been standard practice across successive governments.

    Although NISTA is not a simple continuation of the Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA), campaigners previously obtained a ruling from the Information Commissioner that the Cabinet Office was wrong to withhold a November 2021 IPA “stage gate assessment” review and June 2022 follow-up IPA independent peer review on the Lower Thames Crossing.

    That case was judged under the Environmental Information Regulations and involved some discussion of whether emails between National Highways and government departments are “internal” (they aren’t) but also hinged on whether disclosure would “the interests of the person who provided the information”.

    (more…)

  • Ministers addicted to secrecy – and fabrication

    Transport ministers have again resorted to lying to justify their obsessive secrecy – this time over the secret “peer review” of the West Yorkshire Mass Transit programme.

    As I have written, the peer review was carried out by the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA), despite the project not being a part of the government’s major projects portfolio, and resulted in the project being “resequenced” and delayed by years.

    Both the West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) and the Department for Transport (DfT) have refused to publish the review, amid claims that the public presentation of its findings has been “dishonest”.

    Now very junior transport minister Keir Mather has made up a tradition for NISTA reviews going back through “successive governments”, despite the body only having been created (by Labour) last April.

    Asked by Tory David Simmonds if the government will place the review into the public domain, Mather said:

    All major project reviews undertaken by NISTA are treated as confidential, in the interests of ensuring that everyone involved is able to share their honest feedback. This has been standard practice across successive governments.

    Not only is the claim that NISTA reviews have always been confidential a fabrication – and indeed the phrase has no meaning in this context – but the excuse for not publishing the West Yorkshire one is a departure from what the DfT has previously said, which is that the project is subject to “live” policy discussions.

    Mather’s lie follows fellow transport minister Simon Lightwood falsely claiming the smart motorway “POPE” evaluation reports whose publication the DfT delayed for years were subject to an “assurance” process.

  • DfT again burying bad news

    I have (jointly) written the lead story in the latest issue of Local Transport Today (LTT) looking at the escalating row over the “independent peer review” that put the proposed £2.5bn West Yorkshire mass transit project back by years.

    The refusal by all concerned to publish the publicly funded review was controversial enough, but a senior councillor who sits on the West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) has alleged that was is being said about the review’s findings publicly does not reflect is contents, to the point of dishonesty.

    Cllr Alan Lamb, leader of the Conservative Group on Leeds City Council, told a meeting of the WYCA last month:

    I think people need to see and understand what is in this paper and what the implications are because mass transit is in peril.

    Cllr Lamb told me that he also strongly disputes the reasons given by the authority for not publishing the review by the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA).

    Having read the [review report], I do not believe there is anything commercially sensitive and I remain of the view that it is strongly in the public interest for the report to be publicly available.

    He added:

    I have asked to see the legal advice and have been told my request is being considered under access to information rules. I will use every legitimate means available to me to try and get the report released from its exempt status.

    The WYCA insists that the report is exempt from publication under paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972, but appears to have mixed up issues of commercial confidentiality with the need for a a “safe space” for officials to think through policy options.

    The problem for both the authority and the Department for Transport, which insists that live policy discussions are ongoing, is that this contradicts the official story that the decision to “resequence” the mass transit project has been taken and the government remains committed to it.

    It’s almost as if the Labour Government and a Labour regional mayor are colluding to put a brave face on a project that has gone badly wrong.

    Leave a comment

  • No time for trams

    The press release from West Yorkshire Combined Authority announcing ministers’ decision to put the region’s mass transit system on the not yet list, along with Northern Powerhouse Rail, is a classic of its kind, and trips over its own contradictions.

    Announcements that a scheme will be later than promised never come out and say that up front but begin with an assurance that everything is going swimmingly:

    West Yorkshire Combined Authority has been working with the Government to consider the plans for successfully delivering this game-changing scheme for the region. 

    This has included undertaking an independent review, which is part of the usual process for projects of this size and scale.  As a result, a robust, sequential timeline has been developed, which aims to reduce risks and ensure that the project is put firmly on the path for successful delivery.

    And then the kicker:

    The revised plan has been welcomed by West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin and Transport Minister Lord Peter Hendy, despite the changes meaning services will now start running later than planned, from the mid-2030s to the late 2030s.  

    I’m sure West Yorkshire mayor Tracy Brabin thought she was being helpful when she said:

    (more…)