Updated: Government rejects £250m Leeds trollybus scheme

The government has rejected plans to build a £250m trolleybus scheme in Leeds, it was announced yesterday.

Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin blocked the proposed Leeds New Generation Transport scheme, which would have seen a nine-mile route built from the city centre to the north and south of the city.

The decision to not go ahead the scheme, which has been 10 years in development, followed the release of a report by a planning inspector who rejected the project, as reported by ITV.

However, the £173m the government earmarked for this project will still be spent in the city for a future transport scheme.

A Department for Transport spokesman stated: “After a full public inquiry, the independent Planning Inspector produced a detailed report which said the Leeds Trolleybus system is not suitable for development.

“We have carefully considered the findings and accepted the clear recommendation. We are disappointed the local authorities cannot proceed with the Trolleybus but £173m of DfT funding will be retained so the right public transport scheme in Leeds can be developed as quickly as possible.

“We will now fully support Leeds City Council, West Yorkshire Combined Authority on those next steps as the government continues to invest in Yorkshire and helps deliver the Northern Powerhouse.”

Although there were many campaigners against the proposed project and route, this is still a significant blow to Leeds’ connectivity plans.

Jeff Pearey, lead director of JLL’s Leeds office, commented: “With competition between cities becoming more important in shaping the UK economy, an improved and fit for purpose transport network is fundamental to Leeds.

“Investment in NGT could have helped upgrade the city’s transport links. Whilst the news is disappointing, it’s now important the city is not distracted from longer term solutions to ease movement within and across the city.”

Updated: “Extremely disappointing“

Roger Marsh OBE, chair of the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership (LEP), said: “While it is extremely disappointing the government have taken so long to reach a decision on this scheme, crucially the £173.5m Local Growth Funding earmarked in the Leeds City Region Growth Deal for this project has been safeguarded to invest in transport projects that will help connect people to places and jobs across our wider City Region.

“Improving transport and connectivity links is at the core of our Strategic Economic Plan to create good growth and job opportunities for the people who live and work here, and of our bid for transformational devolution to the City Region. While we’ve already secured other significant money through our Growth Deal to make investments in transport over next 20 years, there is still some way to go to address the legacy of years of underinvestment in our transport network.

“Leeds and the wider City Region needs and deserves a 21st Century transport network, otherwise the whole Northern Powerhouse risks missing out on billions of pounds of economic growth and thousands of good jobs for now and generations to come.“