Lots of money, but is any of it any good?
Good day my good friend
There is just one subject for today’s newsletter. I hope that you enjoy it.
James
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What the Spending Review says about transport
Yesterday, the UK Government announced its spending plans for Government as part of the Spending Review. So what I will do today is put all of the key announcements relating to transport in a single place for you, with some commentary on it. I urge you to read the Spending Review documents yourself.
I should not that the below is not a full analysis. It’s just the headlines and some commentary. This is because much of the detail is missing from the documents from HM Treasury. I hope to do a more detailed newsletter next week once this details becomes available.
The full project list
This is what most people look for, so here it is as written in the Spending Review. It should be noted that the below are schemes with major transport elements, and some regions mention allocations of national government grants (e.g. the Integrated Transport Block) and not others, so I have not included them. You should check the full regional factsheets.
North East
Reopening the Whorlton Bridge over the River Tees
Regeneration of Eaglescliffe Town Centre
Regeneration of Yarm Town Centre
£50,000 in Restoring Your Railways funding to restore services between Darlington and Weardale
£690,000 allocated towards the regeneration of Church Lane North estate in Redcar and Cleveland
£210 million funding for new Nexus trains
£310 million through the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement, including schemes like upgrading Middlesbrough and Darlington stations and improving local rail links
North West
Rescuing the Ferry across the Mersey service in Woodside
Regenerating Bury market
Regeneration of Liverpool Docks
Building high-quality segregated walking and cycling routes across the Liverpool City Region
£700,000 towards Sutton Way estate in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire West and Chester
£1.49 million towards Lower Falinge Area in Central Rochdale
£975,000 towards Sale West estate in Trafford
£150,000 in Restoring Your Railways funding to investigate restoring services along 3 corridors: Ashton and Stockport, Middlewich and Gadbrook Park., and Buckley Wells and Rawtenstall
£14.7 million investment through the Transforming Cities Fund to regenerate the Friargate North and Ringway area in Preston
£70 million Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas (ZEBRA) funding to Warrington to transition an entire bus fleet (of around 120 buses) to zero emission
Yorkshire and the Humber
£830 million to West Yorkshire and £570 million to South Yorkshire over five years through the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement
Improving transport connections across West Leeds
Regenerating Castlegate Quarter in Sheffield
£31 million investment through the Transforming Cities Fund to improve stations and walking/cycling access in Selby, Skipton and Harrogate
£390,000 will be allocated towards the regeneration of the Beech Hill estate in Halifax
£150,000 in Restoring Your Railways funding develop to develop three early-stage proposals to reinstate passenger rail links between Beverley and York, Stocksbridge and Sheffield Victoria (Don Valley Line) and on the Askern Branch Line
East Midlands
Revitalising Leicester Railway Station
Completing the Southern Link Road between Farndon and Balderton.
Building a new junction on the A50 in Derbyshire.
Repairing streets across Nottingham.
Improving the A16 corridor in Lincolnshire.
Developing Pioneer Park in Leicester which supports a fast-growing space and satellite technology sector
£40 million investment in Leicester through the Transforming Cities fund, including funding for a city centre Electric Bus Link to connect rail and bus stations with the city centre
Delivery of around 96 zero emission buses (approximately a third of the existing bus fleet) in Leicester
West Midlands
£1.05 billion over five years in the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement
Improving the A457 Dudley Road in Birmingham
Developing a City Learning Quarter in Wolverhampton
Improving the Canal Towpath in Kidderminster
Redeveloping Stoke-on-Trent City Centre to create 250 new homes and a 2500-seater venue
Regenerating two prime brownfield sites in Bromsgrove Town Centre into commercial and cultural space
£35 million in Transforming Cities Funding, which includes funding to revamp the area around Stoke-on-Trent train station
£100,000 to develop two early-stage proposals to reinstate passenger rail links between Stoke and Leek and Oswestry and Gobowen
East of England
Building over 300 new homes and 2,000 square metres of community space in Luton
Upgrading the Clophill Roundabout in Central Bedfordshire
£39 million of Transforming Cities Funding for Norwich, including funding for a new mobility hub at Norwich Rail Station
Zero Emission Bus Regional Area funding to Cambridgeshire & Peterborough to transition around 30 buses for use on five Park & Ride routes
London
Connecting Northolt Station to White Hart Roundabout.
Transforming Whitechapel Road
Building a new bridge over the River Lea in Newham.
Connecting 75,000 of Newham’s residents to vital infrastructure by a 15-minute walk or cycle
£1 billion annual investment in London’s transport system through Business Rates Retention
South East
Widening Exceat Bridge in Seaford
Creating the longest urban Linear Park in the UK in North Portsmouth.
Redeveloping the Port and Royal Harbour in Ramsgate.
Pedestrianising Victoria Place in Eastbourne
£7 million development funding to restore passenger rail links between Totton and Fawley
£63 million investment in Southampton through the Transforming Cities Fund, including for developing new rapid bus links
Zero Emission Bus Regional Area funding to deliver around 33 zero emission buses on two bus rapid transit routes in Kent and funding to deliver approximately 56 single decker zero emission buses in Milton Keynes
South West
£540 million over five years in City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements in the West of England, for schemes such as a fully prioritised bus route between Bristol and Bath
Upgrading ferries to the Isles of Scilly
Regenerating Cinderford Town Centre.
Expanding the George Park and Ride site in Plymouth.
Linking Gloucester City Centre with its docklands.
A package of improvements along the A38 corridor north of Bridgwater
£5 million development funding to reopen rail stations in Wellington, Somerset and Cullompton, Devon
£150,000 in Restoring Your Railways funding to develop three early-stage proposals to reinstate passenger rail links between Tavistock and Plymouth, reopen Corsham station and reopen Stonehouse Bristol Road station.
Scotland
A new marketplace in Aberdeen City Centre.
Redeveloping Granton Waterfront Northwest of Edinburgh.
Upgrading Westfield Roundabout in Falkirk.
Remodelling the Artizan Shopping Centre in West Dunbartonshire.
Connecting the Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District to Paisley, Renfrew and Inchinnan
A direct route between Glasgow and the Three Towns in North Ayrshire
Wales
Revitalising a disused section of the Montgomery Canal in North Powys.
Cutting a 20km path from Carmarthen to Llandeilo.
Regenerating the Old College and Marina in Aberystwyth
Establishing the Carmarthen Hwb.
Building the Porth Transport Hub.
Dualling 1.3km of the A4119
£50,000 in Restoring Your Railways funding to develop an early-stage proposal to reinstate passenger rail links between Gaerwen and Amlwch in Anglesey
Northern Ireland
Upgrading the electric vehicle charging network across Northern Ireland
Extending Antrim’s boardwalk into the town centre
Extending cycle routes across the Belfast City Region
The Department for Transport gets more money, but who gets it?
The Department for Transport will get an immediate injection of revenue money from next year, slowly tapering off towards 2024/25, whilst the capital budget will grow continuously in that time. But there is no detail on who will get what, exactly. Will National Highways get more money? What about the local authorities? Even Network Rail. No detailed data has been released yet.
Compare this to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, who provide some central government grants and funding for local authorities. Simply, both their resource funding and capital funding in 2024/25 will be lower in real terms. Which in turn will mean less for local councils.
But for local councils, this gets interesting, as the Spending Review also shows that total resource spend for local authorities will increase from £7.5bn in 2019/20, to £12.7bn in 2024/25. But what this will be spent on in the light of upward cost pressures on key services such as adult social care is uncertain.
Sustainable transport gets a light meal as opposed to crumbs
Some of these announcements have been trailed already, but the Government has committed to the following packages that will fund sustainable transport schemes across the UK:
£2bn in walking and cycling funding out to 2025 in addition to Integrated Transport Block Funding
£700m in new funding for walking and cycling
£6.9bn in sustainable transport infrastructure upgrades including Levelling Up Funding, Transforming Cities Funding, and City Region Sustainable Transport settlements
Tax carbon? Are you serious?
This is the most disappointing element of the Spending Review. While the Treasury makes the argument that it is taking in more fuel duty than ever before (mainly because the price of oil is so high), taxing the most carbon-polluting modes makes for disappointing reading.
Duty on petrol and diesel is frozen for the 1359047343th year in a row.
Introducing a new, lower Air Passenger Duty (APD) rate for domestic flights of £6 per ticket. Short haul economy rates will be frozen at £13, and long-haul economy rates will rise by £3. A new ultra-long haul1 rate will start at £91 for economy seats. No APD will be applied for long haul flights leaving from Northern Ireland
Company Car Tax rates will remain frozen.
Vehicle Excise Duty (or Road Tax) will go up in line with inflation, with the exception of Heavy Goods Vehicles for whom it will be frozen and the new HGV Levy will be put off by a year.
Changing Tonnage Tax, or taxes on shipping that apply to the UK, saying that shipping companies should fly the British flag (or remove the requirement to fly the flag of any EU nation as they call it), and to reduce the lock in period for the tax, or how long the tax rate is set for in the common tounge.
Freeze support for Carbon Prices at £18 per tonne, because while you are cutting taxes for fossil fuels, why not reduce the tax incentive for transitioning to lower carbon fuels while you are at it.
Random things
Here are some random things from the Internet that you may find interesting:
The Net Zero Strategy provides a foundation which now needs to be cemented in investment, tax, and regulatory decisions (LSE British Politics and Policy)
Product release cycles are killing the environment, techies tell British Computer Society (The Register)
On the hunt for Mobility as a Service2 (Transloc)
Tiny leaks, big impacts: New research points to urban indoor methane leaks (Yale Climate Connections)
Go live date announced for Tyne Pass (North East Times)
Interesting things
In keeping with the theme of the newsletter, here is a summary map of what the Government plans as part of the Spending Review.
If you do nothing else today, then do this
The best analysis of the Spending Review is always the Institute for Government and the Institute for Fiscal Studies. Check them out.
Mobility Matters 