New Blackburn hospital buses promised by Rishi Sunak as he …
The pledge follows Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s confirmation of the scrapping of the HS2 high-speed rail link from Birmingham to Manchester in his keynote speech to the Conservative Party conference on Wednesday.
Instead he promised to spend the £36 billion would be spent on alternative rail, road and bus schemes in the North and Midlands instead.
Following Mr Sunak’s speech the Department of Transport published a ‘Network North’ document detailing some of the draft proposals, some of which have already been completed, work has begun on them, or are re-announcements of old plans.
They included a £700m bus funding package in the North which will also see more buses and more frequent routes, including a new service to Royal Blackburn Hospital, and more buses to industrial estates and business[1] parks.
Elsewhere in Lancashire, Blackpool could get new trams and some money for the A582 – South Ribble Western Distributor.
It also promised £12bn for links between Liverpool and Manchester, a £3.3bn long-term road resurfacing fund for the North to tackle potholes and money to reopen closed railway lines and boost the regional road network.
But there is no mention of reopening the long-campaigned-for rail link between the East Lancashire Line at Colne and Skipton in Yorkshire.
Blackburn with Darwen[2] Council leader Cllr Phil Riley, a member of the Transport for the North board, said: “Clearly extra buses to the Royal Blackburn Hospital would be a good thing.
“But we have to remember that a service to the hospital had to be scrapped because of lack of patronage.
“I look forward to positive discussions on this and other proposals. We need to see the small print.
“HS2 was all about ‘Levelling Up’ the North of England with the South. While some of these proposals may be welcome and pleasant, they are nothing to do with levelling up.”
Jane Wood, from the Skipton–East Lancashire Rail Action Partnership, said: “‘SELRAP were disappointed to find our project was not specifically mentioned within the £19.8bn transport investment in the North Mr Sunak announced .
“However we have built up a strong body of evidence as to why the Skipton to Colne line should be re-instated.
“We have cross party political support together with wide business, rail industry, and general public support.
“We will continue to lobby the government and rail industry to invest in this rail project.
“The re-opening would help bring real ‘levelling up’ to East Lancashire and bring much needed social and economic benefits to the region.”
After days of speculation that HS2 to Manchester would be scrapped, Mr Sunak confirmed this was the case in his speech in Manchester, with the new trains having to run on old lines between Manchester and Birmingham.