North’s funding plea
City mayors in the North say their transport systems deserve the same funding support as that received in the capital.
GOVERNMENT must support its declaration to level up the economy by treating other cities in the same way it does London post-COVID-19.
That’s the view of Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, who told the House of Commons Transport Select Committee on June 17 that he had considered mothballing the city’s Metrolink tram system during the pandemic, due to funding concerns.
And his Liverpool City Region counterpart Steve Rotheram warned the TSC that services and stations could be forced to close without more funding.
“Different geographies are being treated differently,” Burnham told MPs.
“Obviously, London Transport is a very different entity from the transport set-up in any other city. I know it had strings attached, but £1.6 billion is a huge amount of funding, covering all modes. We are still scratching round mode by mode with short-term funding. London’s deal ran for a considerable period of time, whereas we are getting little chunks here and there.
“Levelling up has to really come back on the agenda very quickly, but it has to be about much more than long-term infrastructure. That’s often how it is spoken about, but it has to be about everyday transport. We all deserve a London-style transport system. There is no good reason at all, in my view, why London gets treated differently from Manchester, Bristol or Liverpool.
“We have run Metrolink without public subsidy for years, ever since it began. It runs on its own revenue. That is not how transport systems have developed in London.
“This is a moment for the Government to put real meaning behind levelling up, saying that they are going to treat other cities in the same way as they treat London and putting in the money so that we can build an integrated system across the modes at city regional level. Ultimately, we should bring rail into that mix as well, as we look to implement the recommendations of the Williams Review.”
Burnham defended his calls for funding, telling MPs: “London has had a subsidy for decades. Why is it outrageous that we should be talking about a subsidy for a tram system like Metrolink or a rail system like Merseyrail?
“As we sit here today, I have no certainty beyond August. We could not sustain losses at that level. Ticket prices are as low as we can get them, but they are still higher than London. We need an ability to plan for the long-term.
“I do not think it would be right to see a package in some parts of the country that keeps ticket prices low, and then we are left in the invidious position of either raising council tax, asking our districts for
more money, or raising ticket prices on the travelling public. Those would be the options to try to maintain services. None of them are palatable in the current climate.”
Rotherham told the TSC that closing or mothballing services “is not beyond the realms of what we have to consider”.
He added: “Our local authorities have been absolutely battered during ten years of austerity, and over the distribution of COVID-19 support. There is no way in which our local authorities would be a cash cow for us to tap, to run public services. If the Government does not step in, we have to look at a solution on fares, cutting routes, ditching services, closing stations or reducing numbers.”