Chancellor announces £15.6bn of funding for local transport projects in England’s city regions, £2.3bn for other areas and extends £3 bus fare cap

 
Rachel Reeves during her visit to Mellor

 
This month’s Comprehensive Spending Review contained positive outcomes for the public transport sector.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced £15.6bn of funding by 2031-32 for local transport projects in England’s city regions, already revealed during her visit to Mellor’s bus factory in Rochdale on June 4. She also announced £2.3bn from 2026-27 to 2029-30 for local transport improvements outside of these nine regions, a further £2.5bn to connect Oxford and Cambridge, and the extension of England’s £3 bus fare cap until 2027.

Reeves also pledged to set out plans to take forward work on Northern Powerhouse Rail in the coming weeks.

Funding announced this week will deliver upgrades to Cardiff Central station, reduce journey times between Manchester and Leeds through continued investment in the TransPennine Route Upgrade, and progress the delivery of Midlands Rail Hub, enhancing connections from Birmingham across the West Midlands and to other regions.

Addressing workers at Mellor’s factory in Rochdale, Reeves spoke of the importance of stronger transport links within cities and towns – and said she was “more than doubling real-terms spending on city-region connectivity”.

“Strong investment in the past in strongly integrated transport systems, including in London, helps explain London’s global success, and also its advantage over other UK cities,” the chancellor said. “We want London to succeed. But it is the lack of that infrastructure which puts England’s other great cities – Birmingham, Liverpool, Newcastle – at a disadvantage compared to their European counterparts that have this infrastructure. That helps to explain our underperformance relative to other European economies.”

Commenting last week on the £15,6bn package announced in Rochdale (see breakdown below), Jason Prince, director of the Urban Transport Group, said: “The chancellor’s backing of transport projects across England is a huge vote of confidence in how public transport delivers economic growth.

“With this move, government is signalling that transport spending in city regions is not simply a cost, but an investment that is vital to promote a growing, green, equitable and healthy society.”

Meanwhile, CPT and Bus Users UK welcomed the extension of England’s £3 bus fare cap but stressed the need for a long-term commitment to the funding local us services.

Breakdown of Transport for City Regions Funding

  • West Midlands – £2.4bn: Metro extension linking Birmingham City Centre to new sports quarter
  • Greater Manchester – £2.5bn: Metrolink expansion, plus 1,000 new electric buses
  • West Yorkshire – £2.1bn: West Yorkshire Mass Transit development starting by 2028
  • East Midlands – £2.0bn: New mass transit system connecting Derby and Nottingham
  • North East – £1.8bn: Metro extension linking Newcastle and Sunderland via Washington
  • Liverpool City Region – £1.6bn: Bus rapid transit routes and new fleet for franchised bus network
  • South Yorkshire – £1.5bn: £530m for tram network renewal and £350m for bus reform
  • Tees Valley – £1.0bn: Platform 3 extension at Middlesbrough station
  • West of England – £0.8bn: Rail infrastructure improvements and mass transit development

 
This article appears in the latest issue of Passenger Transport.

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