West Yorkshire transport schemes delayed to save £270m

Among schemes likely to be delayed is the planned redevelopment of Halifax's railway station

Transport schemes in West Yorkshire worth about £270m are to be placed on hold due to rising costs.

The West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) said it had identified about 40 schemes which could be "paused" to ease pressures on budgets.

They delays would affect road-widening projects, park and ride schemes and railway station redevelopments.

Inflation, Brexit and the Ukraine war were "having a significant impact" on infrastructure projects, the WYCA said.

The projects being paused would enable it to mitigate inflationary issues for schemes already in progress, it added.

Those schemes would still be delivered over a longer period of time and alternative funding sources for them would also be sought, according to the WYCA.

"Record levels of inflation, combined with the knock-on effects of Brexit, the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, are having a significant impact on the costs of infrastructure projects across the country," a WYCA spokesperson said.

The organisation had worked with councils across West Yorkshire to "minimise disruption" and ensure no part of the region was unfairly impacted, they added.

"All of these projects will help level-up our region and we'll be holding government to account over how these will be funded", the spokesperson said.

Among schemes likely to be delayed were improvements to railway stations, including Halifax.

Stephen Waring, from the Halifax and District Rail Action Group, said the move was disappointing, but expected.

"We've been campaigning for this for a long time, council officers have been working on this for a long time.

"But we knew when we could see inflation was going to be more than 10% again that these scheme were at risk".