An infrastructure scheme across the Leeds City Region goes ahead after a further £64m of local funding which was approved by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority.
The funding is part of the largest package of Local Growth Deal investment and the funding will bring forward projects that will create jobs and boost the economy in the North.
The improvements will include local transport network, state-of-the-art college and university facilities and measures in order to reduce the risk of flooding in the region.
Additional schemes are set to go ahead following the approvals. Leeds City College are set to get a new healthcare and life science training facility that will provide young people in the region with the technical skills to enter the growing industry.
The investment will also see the relocation of the College’s healthcare, sciences, digital, creative arts and media departments onto a new site at Quarry Hill in Leeds City Centre. This will accommodate the growth in student numbers at both Leeds City College and Leeds College of Music.
Some transport schemes will receive funding for road improvements in Wakefield city centre, East Leeds and improvements to passenger facilities in Bradford Forster Square station.
Other schemes which received the go ahead include £7.8m investment in measures to prevent future flooding in Mytholmroyd, Skipton and Leeds.
There are plans to create a new Innovation and Enterprise Centre at the University of Leeds containing hi-tech laboratories and business incubation space.
Councillor Peter Box CBE, chair of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority and leader of Wakefield Council said:
“Here in Leeds City Region, [we] are now starting to see what can be achieved through local leadership and locally determined priorities.
“Local people can now begin to see the benefits of this investment – whether it’s new world-class college facilities to help young people achieve their potential, better road and rail links so that people can travel to work more easily or new affordable housing and development.”
Roger Marsh, OBE, chair of the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership (LEP) which secured the Growth Deal funding from Government in 2014 said: “we are now well on our way towards putting our ambitions of transforming the Leeds City Region economy – the country’s largest economic area outside the capital – into action. Our £1bn-plus programme of transport and other infrastructure investment is picking up real pace and over the next five years we’re set to create close to 36,000 new jobs for local people.”
Amy Crawford
(Image: nscd.ac.uk)