Political Editor, BBC West of England
BBCTrams could make a return to Bristol and Bath with the announcement hundreds of millions of pounds of new transport funding.
The West of England Combined Authority (WECA) is to spend some of a new £750m funding allocation on looking at mass transit – most of which will be spent on improving bus and local rail services.
WECA’s award was part of £15.6bn transport funding announced by the government.
But while newly-elector mayor Helen Godwin welcomed the funding, £200m of which would be spent on developing mass transit, she made it clear it would not buy a new tram system “overnight”.
The money covers a five-year period from 2027.
The West of England is getting the lowest funding of any city region – partly because its population is smaller than most.
“That money is not going to buy us a tram network overnight, we’ve got to be clear about that,” Ms Godwin said.
“That money can give us a much-improved bus network,” she added. “We can also start to move on our suburban rail network.”
Ms Godwin was elected Metro Mayor on 1 May, bringing to an end the troubled tenure of Dan Norris.
During his four years in charge WECA was put into special measures after a series of public rows with council leaders.
Among the disagreements was over the possibility of an underground system.
That idea is not now being talked about.
Instead Ms Godwin stresses her wish for good relations with local councils, including North Somerset which is likely to eventually join WECA.
She will work with them on one particular priority – improving links to the airport.
“We have got an airport which is the only one in the country which isn’t connected by mass transit of any form,” she said. “So it would be remiss for us not to be looking at that.”
The new money is not enough to fund that but the hope is that it could pave the way.
