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Leeds transport schemes at risk as Labour spending reviewed
Two transport schemes in Leeds are at risk of being axed after the new coalition government announced plans to undo Labour's "irresponsible" spending splurge.
Proposals for a trolleybus network in Leeds and plans to build a new entrance to Leeds City Station will both be reviewed as Tory and Liberal Democrat ministers look to make deep public spending cuts.
* Click here to read YEP political editor Mark Hookham's Westminster blog.
There are also growing fears that the Leeds Arena project could be scuppered after the new administration refused to commit to a 9.9m funding package agreed by the last government.
Business chiefs in Leeds today called for "common sense to prevail" and urged ministers not to "hinder" businesses in the city.
David Laws, the new Chief Secretary to the Treasury, yesterday announced that every new spending commitment and pilot project signed off by Labour ministers after January 1 will now be individually reviewed.
He said: "We will want to test in each and every case whether these are affordable, whether they deliver value for money and whether they remain genuine priorities for the new Government.
"This is simply due diligence by the new coalition government in relation to some of the irresponsible decisions we have inherited."
The reviews are a bid to find savings "in addition" to the Conservative/Liberal Democrat government's plan to reduce spending by 6bn this year.
Mr Laws' comments throw a shadow over two long-awaited transport schemes which were finally granted the green light just two weeks before the General Election was called.
In March, the then transport minister Sadiq Khan said the Leeds trolleybus scheme been given "programme entry approval".
This meant it had cleared the first stage in an approval process and that, subject to further approval, the government would contribute 235m towards the scheme's 254m cost.
Mr Khan also used his visit to approve 13.7m of funding to build a new entrance to the city's train station.
Meanwhile, it was also today unclear whether the coalition remains committed to plans to spend 9.9m on the proposed 12,500-seater Leeds Arena.
That decision was signed off by the previous government in December and does not form part of the reviews announced yesterday by Mr Laws.
However, when asked yesterday if the government remains committed to the scheme, a Department for Business, Innovation and Skills spokesman replied: "I cannot give an answer either way."
Leeds North East Labour MP Fabian Hamilton said: "They owe it to the people of Leeds to carry out the schemes that the previous government were committed to because the needs of the people of Leeds should be above party politics."
Gary Williamson, chief executive at the Leeds Chamber of Commerce said: "I am hopeful that common sense will prevail, and, that where a strong business case has been made for a project that clearly impacts positively on the local economy, no reversals, indecisions or delays will occur."
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Weather for Leeds
Friday 25 May 2012
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Temperature: 10 C to 23 C
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