Durham’s grant of £72.8mn is the only money coming the North East’s way from the total of £4.7bn that ministers said today would be allocated to the North and Midlands from HS2 savings
Photo by StrippedPixel.com/Shutterstock.com
Article by Peter Morris at North East BYLINES
County Durham is to receive £72.8mn to improve local transport, paid for from the £36bn that the government expects to have saved by scrapping high-speed rail between Birmingham and Manchester (HS2).
Durham’s grant is the only money coming the North East’s way from the total of £4.7bn that ministers said today would be allocated to the North and Midlands from HS2 savings.
It means the North East’s share amounts to approximately 1.5% of the total, the rest of which will go to eight councils each in the North West and East Midlands, six in the West Midlands and three in Yorkshire & Humber. There is nothing for Tees Valley. The rest of the region is however receiving other funding from the City Regional Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS), already announced, from which Durham was previously excluded because it was late joining the North East devolution deal due to be implemented in May.
The government said: “Millions of people in the North and the Midlands will benefit from better public transport, reduced congestion and upgraded local bus and train stations thanks to the new £4.7bn Local Transport Fund announced today.
“Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Transport Secretary Mark Harper have confirmed that the North will receive £2.5bn and the Midlands will receive £2.2bn from April 2025 to improve local transport connections that so many people rely on every day, particularly across smaller cities, towns, and rural areas.”
The government said the investment “will deliver an unprecedented long-term funding uplift across the North and Midlands over seven years. It’s the first transport budget of its kind that’s specifically targeted at smaller cities, towns and rural areas and empowers local people and local leaders to invest in the transport projects that matter most to their communities – helping create jobs, grow the economy, and level up the country.
“Over the seven years as a whole this funding will be on average at least nine times more than these local authorities currently receive through the local integrated transport block which is the current mechanism for funding local transport improvements in their areas.”
Read full article HERE
