Dr Neil Hudson MP has today welcomed £148,747,000 for Cumberland and £128,844,000 for Westmorland and Furness of reallocated HS funding as part of the Conservative Government's long-term plan to level up transport in Penrith and The Border.
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.
The funding increase will 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.
Dr Hudson has already written to both councils, urging them to take advantage of the HS2 travel dividend and deliver on local people's transport priorities. You can read more here: https://www.neilhudson.org.uk/news/dr-neil-hudson-mp-urges-councils-take-advantage-ps287-million-extra-roads-funding-conservative. Dr Hudson has also joined his fellow Cumbrian Conservative MPs in highlighting projects such as de-trunking the Warwick Bridge section of the A69 an area Dr Hudson has been working with a local councillor on to improve the road safety issues.
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.
Dr Neil Hudson MP said:
"I strongly welcome this huge amount of funding from our Conservative Government to support local transport in our county. The Prime Minister was right to cancel the remainder of HS2 and as such the Government is providing transformational funding that will benefit our region far more significantly than HS2.
"Working with our Conservative Government, we are levelling up Penrith and The Border and transforming how people travel. I urge our local councils to grasp the benefits of our long-term Conservative plan to invest in the things that matter most to local people and build a brighter future for everyone."
Transport Secretary Mark Harper, added:
“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.
“This funding boost will make a real difference to millions of people, empowering local authorities to drive economic growth, transform communities, and improve the daily transport connections that people rely on for years to come.”
