Mass Transit: West Yorkshire

Debate between Tom Gordon and Mark Sewards

Tuesday 10th June 2025 Westminster Hall

[Tom Gordon (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (LD)]

It is an honour to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Jardine. I congratulate the hon. Member for Leeds South West and Morley (Mark Sewards) on securing this debate on such an important topic.

The recent announcement of local transport investment marks a significant milestone for West Yorkshire—particularly the long-awaited mass transit system, which will finally bring trams back to the region. The Liberal Democrats have long campaigned for a mass transit network across Leeds and West Yorkshire; as the hon. Gentleman pointed out, Leeds is the largest city in western Europe without one, so the funding is very welcome.

Transport challenges do not stop at city boundaries, however. People’s lives span towns, villages and rural areas, and so must the solutions. We need a truly Yorkshire-wide approach that encourages cross-boundary collaboration, unlocks regional growth and serves all communities, not just urban cores. In that spirit, I want to focus on the fantastic work of Liberal Democrat councillors across West Yorkshire, who have been campaigning tirelessly on public transport issues over a number of years.

To wind the clock back a bit, I was at one point a West Yorkshire Liberal Democrat councillor. Interestingly, at that point in time, my council ward was wrapped around on three sides by North Yorkshire. I was raised in West Yorkshire, but educated at Selby college, so I know all too well the issues with cross-boundary transit. Therefore, while the Liberal Democrats and I welcome this new funding, a proper Yorkshire-wide approach is key to ensuring that infrastructure does not end at those arbitrary lines.

Let us look around West Yorkshire: councillors on the ground in Bradford, including Jeanette Sunderland, have been campaigning for over a decade to improve bus connections to Apperley Bridge rail station—a vital link that is still missing for over 15,000 homes. Without it, many are cut off from easy rail access, limiting opportunities for work and education. Councillor Brendan Stubbs has rightly been calling for urgent action to secure funding for a new Bradford bus station. The current station, as we know, is crumbling and unsafe, and new facilities must integrate effectively with the proposed tram network to serve Bradford’s future needs.

In Kirklees, local councillors John Lawson and Baroness Pinnock have raised concerns about the Dewsbury-Cleckheaton bus lane proposals. Objections are focused mainly on safety risks, disruption from construction and potential congestion. Many argue that simpler, lower-cost measures, such as improved traffic light control and enhanced bus reliability, would provide better value for money and cause less disruption.

Turning to the White Rose shopping centre that the hon. Member for Leeds South West and Morley mentioned, I think it is good that announcements have been made for phase 1. My concern is that the work on the train station there was already under way, but it was paused after it went over budget of the £26 million originally anticipated. If we are being honest, there has been a bit of a face-saving exercise put on by the combined authority.

[Mark Sewards]

I appreciate that time is short. We are making good progress on getting the paused White Rose train station, based on Churwell Hill, restarted. I have been working very closely with the combined authority to ensure that that station is built, and I am pleased to say it will be soon.

[Tom Gordon]

I commend the hon. Gentleman for his campaigning on that issue, but I return to the point that we need a comprehensive integrated transport network that links up everything. What we have seen previously is a piecemeal approach that has not necessarily thought through how we would go about something like this. While it is welcome that it is on the way to being resolved, it is a damning indictment of the situation up until now.

The funding announced is exactly the same as that announced under the previous Conservative Government —to the penny, so I question whether it is new funding or just a repackaging and reallocation of existing funding. I am sure the Conservative spokesperson, the hon. Member for Broadland and Fakenham (Jerome Mayhew), will pick up on that point; he almost certainly will.

Turning to the work of the combined authority and the West Yorkshire Mayor: back when I was a councillor in Wakefield, we voted on the agreement to enter that authority. In that consultation, the only local authority in West Yorkshire that did not want to enter a combined authority or have a regional mayor was Wakefield, principally because it had previously been asked if it wanted a mayor and had voted against it. There were also concerns about powers being sucked up from local authorities to a new combined authority.

Speaking to local councillors across the piece, there is still scepticism about whether that is happening or whether the resulting transport decisions have been in the interests of everyone in all corners of West Yorkshire. The new mayor promised to fix the buses in her first term and she ran her re-election campaign based on that, so I think there are questions to be answered there.

When we look further afield, we have issues with rail links out of Leeds into other places across county boundaries, such as Harrogate and Knaresborough, with that link between Harrogate and York. While it is welcome that funding has been announced for West Yorkshire, we did not get a single penny for North Yorkshire under the Labour mayor, David Skaith.

Rounding up in the interests of time, we want to see a properly integrated transport plan with proper funding—a Transport for Yorkshire approach to make sure that no one is left behind.