York’s plans to boost buses and cut car use were endorsed by a government minister in the city today (Thursday).
Visiting the city on Yorkshire Day, Future of Roads Minister Lilian Greenwood also said she wanted to empower City of York Council to fill in the many potholes on the roads.
But she was unable to say whether the plans to dual York’s outer ring road would be shelved as part of the transport cutbacks announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves.
When asked about the ring road upgrade, Ms Greenwood revealed that we may not know more until autumn: “We’re having to look at everything that’s in our capital programme.
“That’s the work that we’re doing over the coming months, and we’ll be making further announcements as part of the spending review in the autumn.
“I completely understand people’s concerns, but unfortunately, we’ve been left with this £22 billion black hole in the public finances that we need to fix just this year.”
The minister pledged that the state of York’s roads would be improved. “We’ve committed that we’re going to be providing funding that allows up to one million potholes a year to be fixed.”
Ministers are due to set out more details about how they are funding this scheme in a spending review later this year.
She told YorkMix: “We’ve been left with a terrible state of our roads by the previous government, and we’re absolutely committed to doing something about that.
“We want to move to a longer term funding so that we get better efficiency in terms of fixing the roads, it shouldn’t be a sort of patch and mend approach.”
Publicly-owned buses
Ms Greenwood also spoke about the Better Buses Bill, announced by the government in the King’s Speech.
Could the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority take control of the bus network, as Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has done in his region, with the Bee Network?
From her own experience in her Nottingham constituency, she said she was aware just how well publicly-owned bus companies can work.
“One of the most Important things we’re doing in terms of devolution is our Better Buses Bill, and that’s precisely to give mayoral combined authorities like York and North Yorkshire the opportunity of franchising buses, if that’s what they want to do.”
Council deputy leader Cllr Pete Kilbane said all options for running buses including a franchising model and local partnerships were on the table.
The minister, along with York Central MP Rachael Maskell and councillors, took a walk over the Millennium Bridge, and praised the upgraded entry path from Butcher Terrace, which has recently been heightened to reduce flooding.
YorkMix asked about the increased housing targets for York and North Yorkshire and what that could mean for the already under-strain road network.
The minister said there would be reliable public transport options and road infrastructure to support the new developments: “It’s really important that we build new homes, but those have got to be supported by the right transport infrastructure.
“We want to make sure that people can travel sustainably, whether that’s making sure it’s got the right public transport, the right opportunities for active travel and the right roads infrastructure that supports that new development and connects people to the places that they need to go.”
The minister praised the Labour-run council’s recently-approved transport strategy, which aims to boost public transport use and walking and cycling, saying their goals were shared by Whitehall.
The council’s strategy aims to cut car use by a fifth in the coming years in order free up roads and tackle pollution.
Ms Greenwood said: “It’s really brilliant to see the level of ambition in York to both improve air quality and local transport so that people can get to where they need to go.
“We want to see more people travelling by bus and cycling and walking.
“We will support places like York on that through devolution, because it’s people here who know what’s best for their communities.”
- Additional reporting: Joe Gerrard, Local Democracy Reporter