Staffordshire has been allocated £285million of transport funding – but none will be spent until after the next General Election.
The government announced last year that HS2 would be cancelled north of Handsacre, with the billions of pounds saved being redirected to smaller projects across the country.
Ministers have now revealed how £4.7billion from the Local Transport Fund (LFT) will be divided among smaller cities and towns in the North and Midlands over a seven year period up to 2032.
Staffordshire County Council is set to receive £285million, but none of it will be available to spend until April 2025, with the next general election due to take place no later than January. The government says this will give councils “enough time to develop their funding plans and prepare to hit the ground running”.
Building new roads, installing mass transit systems and filling in potholes are among the transport schemes the money could be spent on.
Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride said people would not have to wait long to see the cash making a difference locally.
“The HS2 funding wasn’t going to all arrive tomorrow – it was going to be spread out through time and that’s the approach being taken here.
“But I think the big advantage is that the local authority will be able to plan on the basis of seven years of payments going into the future. What we’re looking for now is a clear outline of what the plans are for the first year, to be delivered by the autumn.
“We took the decision [to cancel HS2] on the basis that you get much more return, social benefit, jobs etc if you get this money into services in and around communities, as opposed to this big single project.
“What we’ve made clear is that every penny that was going to be spent on HS2 will go to the parts of the country that it was going to be supporting.”
Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride
The government has described the LFT cash as an “unprecedented long-term funding uplift” and the first transport budget of its kind specifically targeted at smaller cities, towns and rural areas.
But Labour has dismissed the announcement as a “back of the fag packet plan”.
Shadow Transport Secretary Louise Haigh said:
“How many more times can they promise the North ‘transformation’ when they have no intention whatsoever to deliver?
“Their record speaks for itself – record delays and cancellations on the rail network, 22 million more potholes and a record-breaking collapse in bus routes.”
Shadow Transport Secretary Louise Haigh
