The West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) stated it had identified approximately 40 developments that may be “paused” to relieve budgetary concerns. The delays would impact road-widening projects, park-and-ride initiatives, and train station renovations. According to the WYCA, inflation, Brexit, and the Ukraine conflict are “having a substantial impact” on infrastructure investments. It noted that the halted initiatives would allow it to reduce inflationary risks for existing programmes. According to the WYCA, those initiatives would still be delivered over a more extended period, and alternative funding sources would be sought.
“Record levels of inflation, combined with the knock-on effects of Brexit, the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, are significantly impacting the costs of infrastructure projects across the country. All of these projects will help level up our region, and we’ll be holding the government to account over how these will be funded,” a WYCA spokesperson said.
The organisation had collaborated with councils across West Yorkshire to “minimise disturbance” and guarantee that no part of the region was disproportionately affected. Improvements at railway stations, notably Halifax, are among the projects that are likely to be postponed. The Halifax and District Rail Action Group’s Stephen Waring described the move as sad but predictable.
“We’ve been advocating for this for a long time, and council officers have been working on it for a long time,” she says. “But we realised that if inflation soared above 10% again, these plans would be jeopardised”.
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