Public transport funds Councillors' reactions divide along party lines

THE news that the Government is to invest £752million in transport projects in the West of England has been welcomed across the region - although not everyone is completely happy.

- Tristan CORK

Council leaders across Bristol, South Gloucestershire and Bath and North East Somerset lined up to praise Chancellor Rachel Reeves' announcement, but those not in power questioned if the news was actually all it was cracked up to be.

Conservatives in Bristol claimed the money had already been announced once before - by the Tory Government back in 2023 and had been put on hold when Labour got into power in Westminster in 2024 - and was only now being re-confirmed and re-announced as if it was something new.

Meanwhile, Lib Dems in Bristol said the West of England was being 'short-changed,' pointing out that cities and regions in the North of England and the Midlands were getting much more - into the billions - compared with the West of England.

The announcement on Wednesday was carefully choreographed. As Rachel Reeves gave a speech in front of a bus up north announcing a whopping £15.6billion for transport around the country, the new Labour metro mayor in the West of England, Helen Godwin, was doing interviews in front of an old tram at the Aerospace Museum on the northern edge of Bristol.

Ms Godwin already had an idea what the money would be spent on, including £200million to improve and extend buses in the region, £150million to transform the paltry one-an-hour suburban rail lines around Bristol and Bath, with the promise of a train every 15 minutes, and £200million to "enable the planning of a mass transit system".

There were other things like better cycling infrastructure and big investments in fixing pot-holes, so everyone was a winner. Or actually not really, according to Lib Dem Andrew Brown.