· The Conservative Government is sticking with the plan to reallocate £36 billion of HS2 funding into long-term local transport improvements – benefitting more people, in more places, more quickly.
· The £4.7 billion Local Transport Fund is the latest part of this plan being delivered. £494,400,000 is being provided to Lancashire to improve local transport, helping people across West Lancashire benefit from the transport improvements that matter most to local people.
· The Conservative Government is sticking to its long-term plan to transform how people travel – improving public transport, reducing congestion and upgrading local bus and train stations to help create jobs, grow the economy and level up our communities.
Mike Prendergast, the Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for West Lancashire, has welcomed £494,400,000 for Lancashire County Council as part of the Conservative Government’s long-term plan to level up local transport in West Lancashire
Millions of people in the North and Midlands are set to benefit from £4.7 billion of further investment in local transport made possible by reallocated HS2 funding, with money to improve public transport, reduce congestion and upgrade local bus and train stations.
It is the first transport budget of its kind that is specifically targeted at smaller cities, towns and rural areas and empowers local people and local leaders to invest in the local transport projects that matter most to their communities.
Lancashire County Council will receive £494,400,000 to improve the local transport connections that people rely on every day, providing almost 11 million people across the region with almost nine times more transport funding.
Local authorities will receive funding from April 2025, giving them time to develop their funding proposals and prepare to hit the ground running to start delivering them as early as possible. Over the seven years as a whole this funding will be on average at least nine times more than these local authorities currently receive through the local integrated transport block which is the current mechanism for funding local transport improvements in their areas.
The announcement comes as part of the Conservative Government’s long-term plan to reallocate the £36 billion saved from HS2 Phase 2 into local transport improvements across the country – benefitting more people, in more places, more quickly than the full HS2 project would have done.
This funding increase is for the North and the Midlands because most HS2 savings are from those regions. Savings from Euston ensure the rest of the country receives extra transport investment too from our decision to cancel HS2 Phase 2.
All of the £19.8 billion committed to the Northern leg of HS2 will be reinvested in the North and all of the £9.6 billion committed to the Midlands leg will be reinvested in the Midlands. The £6.5 billion saved through our new approach at Euston will be spread across every other region in the country.
The Conservative Government is delivering this unprecedented funding uplift across the North and Midlands as it sticks to its long-term plan to create jobs, grow the economy and level up the country, building a brighter future for all.
Commenting, Mike Prendergast said:
“By redirecting money that would have been spent on HS2, we are already seeing more investment in local transport in West Lancashire, including more money to fill potholes and extending the £2 bus fare cap.
“People rely on local transport connections every day, and it is essential that we get the investment we need to keep us moving. This additional funding will make a such difference to our local transport infrastructure which I know matters so much to our community.
“Meanwhile Labour would put this at risk as they don’t have a plan to improve local transport – they can’t even say if they back our plan to reallocate HS2 savings into local transport improvements.
“Working with the Conservative Government, we are levelling up West Lancashire and transforming how people travel, as part of our long-term plan to invest in the things that matter most to local people and build a brighter future for everyone.
Commenting, Transport Secretary Mark Harper said:
“Today’s £4.7 billion investment is truly game-changing for the smaller cities, towns, and rural communities across the North and the Midlands and is only possible because this Government has a plan to improve local transport and is willing to take tough decisions like reallocating funding from the second phase of HS2.
