It can’t all go to Bristol: Transport funding row erupts as Bath and South Glos fear being left behind

The region was told in June it would receive three quarters of a billion for transport over the next five years, as the government announced £15.6bn for transport across nine mayoral combined authorities in England. Ms Godwin said that in the West of England — made up of Bristol, South Gloucestershire, and Bath and North East Somerset — the money would be spent on improving buses, increasing the frequency of suburban railways, some road improvements and fixing potholes, and developing a mass transit system for the area.

Bath and North East Somerset Council leader Kevin Guy hailed the funding as a “turning point” for transport when it was announced. But at a meeting of the West of England Combined Authority’s scrutiny committee on Monday, Bath and North East Somerset councillor Lucy Hodge (Lansdown, Liberal Democrat) said: “After initial optimism around the announcement of a £750m TCR [Transforming City Regions] funding in June comes the sobering reality of what we might be left with at unitary level to complete our active travel ambitions.”

She said: “With £150m rail funding mostly for the Brabazon development, £200m on mass transit out of Bristol, and £150m for maintenance, the remaining £200m shared between three unitaries will not go far — especially when we in B&NES need to look beyond a constrained world heritage city to provide a doubling of our housing numbers with the consequent new transport requirements.”

She asked Ms Godwin: “Is this seemingly a Bristol-centric distribution of funding fair and where do we look now for funding for our local active travel schemes?”

Ms Godwin said: “I’m not sure that what is being talked about at the minute is Bristol-centric because it has not been place specific but I’m obviously mindful of trying to support the whole region. But at the same time I am mindful that our boundaries are not boundaries in which people live and operate day to day. People cross boundaries all the time. And so it’s actually about trying to get the best possible experience transport-wise for all of our residents.”

She said: “Those initial allocations are indicative at this stage and we will be working across the region to put together what will actually be the programme of delivery for TCR as it will be known; Transforming City Regions is the name of the new fund. So I, personally, will be hoping that we can take a fully regional approach to that.”

She added that she was hopeful the region could receive more funding for active travel projects from Active Travel England, as they had unallocated funding and considered the West of England “as somewhere really strategically important for them.”

She said: “The rail is a priority, mass transit is a priority, but — as everyone I think knows — improving buses is the absolute priority for now. That will be across the whole region. That is not something I am looking at with a Bristol-centric lens.”

Bristol accounts for about half of the population of the West of England, while many areas technically in South Gloucestershire are effectively a continuation of the Bristol urban area. North Somerset is not yet a member of the combined authority — although it has expressed interest in joining — but would be included in plans for a mass transit network for the area. Ms Godwin has also said the £752m in transport funding was an “opportunity” to look at a transport link to Bristol Airport, which lies in North Somerset.