Like our scaffolding systems, Burflex Scaffolding is founded on quality, integrity and consistency. Our head office is based in Hull, we also have contact offices in Sheffield and Leeds.
Northern cities such as Leeds and Sheffield need much better transport infrastructure in the form of enhanced rail and raid transport networks if they are to fulfil their economic potential, a new report has claimed.
The Sheffield Property Association has co-authored a white paper on city region connectivity with London Property Alliance, authored by JLL, which argues this is necessary for stated government ambitions to ‘level up’ the economy by reducing regional disparities to make the transition from an ambition to reality.
In raising the issue, the paper will put pressure on the government and city region authorities to provide more funding not just for HS2, but also better local services, something that could provide construction jobs such as for scaffolders in Leeds, as well as a longer-term economic boost.
The paper examined the impact of established rapid transport systems such as the Sheffield Supertram and others elsewhere like the Manchester Metrolink and Nottingham Trams, as well as the extensive systems in cities overseas like Lyon, Rotterdam and Sydney.
Manchester’s Metrolink was highlighted as an exception to the UK norm, as a system that has enjoyed a successful large-scale expansion.
Arguing that there are “real and pressing needs” for transport improvements in cities that lack the extensive rapid transport networks of London or Manchester, the report argued: “Over the next decade extensive systems could and should be created at speed in West Yorkshire and the West Midlands, and existing systems in South Yorkshire should be extended.”
Among the specific proposals were more powers for Metro mayors and authorities to develop their own transport strategies and invest in new systems, an expanded use of public-private partnerships, increased use of ‘tram-train’ systems such as the proposed Sheffield-Rotherham route and less reliance on fares to fund projects.
While this might mean more trams and new tram-trains in Sheffield, the implications may be even more significant in the Leeds-Bradford conurbation. Despite being the second largest local authority in Britain by population, Leeds has only 14 mainline stations, none of which cover a large area of suburbs across the north-east of the city. Bradford has two city centre stations with no connection.
Commenting in the Yorkshire Post on the report, chair of Sheffield Property Association Martin McKervey said: “By any measure, the delivery of mass-transit rail and tram systems in the UK over the past 20 years has been disappointing.”
Leeds is certainly a case in point, with a tram network for the city being proposed at the turn of the century but funding being withdrawn by the government in 2004. The city was name-checked by the 2019 Conservative election manifesto as being the largest city in Europe without a mass-transport system, as funding was pledged to help Metro mayors develop better public transport systems.
Of course, cynics will suggest the phrase “mind the gap” may be more about the difference between stated ambitions in reports and manifestos than future public announcements at new stations.
However, with expansion indeed taking place on the Midland Metro, Coventry planning its own ‘Very Light Rail’ system and Bristol Mayor Marvin Rees pushing for a new Metro system with some underground sections – probably more like Newcastle than London – it is surely likely that cities such as Leeds will revisit the issue now West Yorkshire has joined other regions in having a metro mayor.
