B25: Light Rail Regeneration

The new transport White paper, The Future of Transport – a network for 2030 was unveiled on the 20th July 2004 by Transport Secretary, Alistair Darling. It looks at the factors that will shape travel and transport over the next thirty years, setting out how the Government will respond to the increasing demand for travel. The White Paper offers a long-term strategy for the transport system (up to 2030) and offers details on levels of investment over the next 15 years.

This CLES bulletin will focus on the developments in the light rail sector, with Alistair Darling announcing at the same time as launching the White paper, that the proposed light rail schemes in Manchester, Leeds and South Hampshire will no longer be going ahead. This announcement has caused something of a storm in the press and this CLES Bulletin looks at the development of light rail in cities across the UK, the spiralling costs of the current schemes and the regeneration benefits that will be lost with the announcement that they will no longer be going ahead.