Ambitious plans to bring trams back to Leeds and West Yorkshire have secured a major funding boost from the government.
Chancellor and Leeds West and Pudsey MP Rachel Reeves will today (Wednesday 4 June) announce the allocation of £2.1 billion of local transport funding to West Yorkshire which will enable the Combined Authority to get spades in the ground on West Yorkshire’s tram project by 2028.
Speaking ahead of next week’s Spending Review, the Chancellor will join West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin at a bus depot in Huddersfield where she will unveil West Yorkshire’s ‘transport for city regions’ funding for 2027-2032.
The funding will also support other vital transport infrastructure projects across the region including new bus stations in Bradford and Wakefield, extensive bus priority measures and cycleways on the A641 and North Kirklees transport corridors, and access improvements to unlock regeneration across six key neighbourhoods bordering Leeds city centre.
The first phase of West Yorkshire’s Mass Transit network will create two tram lines – a Leeds Line, running from St James’s University Hospital through the city centre to the White Rose, and a Bradford Line, connecting Bradford and Leeds city centres, via West Leeds.
This represents the region’s biggest infrastructure project in decades and will form part of an integrated transport network, under the single Weaver Network branding, connecting bus, tram and train services as well as walking and cycling routes.
Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire, said: “It is time for trams – today is a huge moment for our region.
“The Chancellor’s backing means we now have the investment needed to bring trams back to the streets of Leeds and Bradford – improving public transport connections and boosting growth.
“We will also be able to take forward other vital projects, including new bus stations for Bradford and Wakefield, which will help us create a better-connected region that works for all.”
Councillor James Lewis, leader of Leeds City Council, said: “Delivering a tram system will transform connectivity across our city – and between Leeds and Bradford – bringing jobs and opportunities within easier reach of thousands of local people. This sits alongside other transport improvements, including bus reform, that reach out across the whole city.
“Securing this funding is another important milestone because it demonstrates clear government backing for the scheme, offering greater confidence and surety as we work together with the Combined Authority and partners to bring trams to our two cities.”
The Combined Authority will publish its preferred route options later this year, with a full public consultation planned during 2026.
The £2.5bn mass transit programme will have spades in the ground by 2028, with the intention for the first trams to be operating before the mid-2030s.
The project will improve local transport for over 675,000 people and benefit those in some of West Yorkshire’s most deprived communities.
Last year the Combined Authority asked for the public’s views on different route options, with 4,845 individuals and organisations in total having their say.
More than two thirds of those surveyed in West Yorkshire backed the Bradford Line plans, while more than three quarters supported the proposed Leeds Line.
Respondents said improving connections with residential areas, reducing traffic congestion, improving access to employment and education, and providing quick journey times were the most important outcomes.
WLD reported in February that three options for how and where the Leeds to Bradford line will run exactly have been put forward a public consultation into a proposed mass transit system has shown a line running via Armley and Stanningley is the marginally preferred option to link Leeds and Bradford.
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Another £2 billion of taxpayers money poured down the drain on a white elephant scheme, while our health services and local councils are all in crisis struggling to provide the most basic of services.
I don’t understand why we need a tram line that runs Bramley Pudsey then to Bradford
There is already a well served line that follows pretty much the same route, why not add some stations in Armley stanningjey laisterdyke etc
The tram be better serving areas of Leeds that done have a rail line, like Roundhay ?
So Rachel from complaints just re-announced a pledge made by Boris Johnson.
I think that we should be so grateful to her that we should call the network Reever rather than Weaver.
Announced by Boris Johnson you say – like those 40 new hospitals? Yup!