Threats to North West transport projects

£1 billion worth of local transport projects in the North West are under threat from spending cuts, research by the Campaign for Better Transport has revealed.

The upcoming Budget is expected to outline the Department for Transport’s spending cuts over the coming years. Following the collapse of the Manchester congestion charging scheme, the North West reprioritised its spending, persuading councils across Greater Manchester to contribute extra money from other budgets.

However, this is unlikely to survive a harsh round of cuts, as individual authorities are not going to want to contribute millions of pounds if their scheme is not going ahead.

If the Greater Manchester coalition collapses, then cuts in local transport spending of 10% means cancelling schemes worth £674 million. Cuts of 25% mean that schemes worth £808 million would need to be cancelled. A 50% cut would put the region £14 million over budget and mean cutting projects worth £1 billion.

Richard George, roads and climate campaigner for the Campaign for Better Transport, said: “With tough times ahead, the North West must be careful to fund the right schemes. Costly road schemes are totally unaffordable, and even lower-cost schemes, programme to improve Manchester’s stations may be too expensive. A much better option would be to work out the cheapest way to solve transport problems, so that the region can spread the benefits more widely.

“Councils should accept that costly road schemes just aren’t viable any more. Instead, they should start looking into more affordable ways to solve their transport problems while working towards UK climate change targets.”