Steve Rotheram, the Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, has unveiled plans for a record-breaking £1.6bn investment in Liverpool City Region’s public transport including new railway stations, rapid transit links and smart ticketing across the entire network.
The city region’s biggest ever public transport investment is designed to better connect communities, including major new housing developments, while boosting productivity, driving economic growth and unlocking regeneration.
The Transport for City Region (TCR) settlement was secured in June and confirmed by the Chancellor ahead of this year’s Spending Review. Liverpool City Region is breaking new ground as the first Combined Authority to showcase its ambitious plans for TCR investment – paving the way for faster, greener, and more connected journeys across the region.
Network improvements are expected to result in a 20% increase in residents able to access Liverpool City Centre by public transport within 30 minutes as well as a marked increase in the number of residents being directly linked to town centres across the region.
The funding will also lead to a 20% increase in residents living within 800 meters of a step-free rail station – while ensuring fairer access to public transport across the city region’s six boroughs of Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, St Helens and Wirral.
Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, said:
“This £1.6 billion settlement is the largest transport investment in our region’s history and a massive statement of intent towards delivering the greener, more accessible, more affordable and better-connected public transport system our 1.6 million residents deserve.
“Fundamentally, this long-term plan is about inclusive growth. That means new, step-free rail stations, rapid transit links, and smart ticketing that connects communities directly to jobs, new homes, cultural attractions, and of course major regeneration projects.”
A key focus of the plans is to support the building of thousands of new homes in locations that will be well connected to major employers and the region’s growth industries.
The funding will help to unlock significant large-scale regeneration projects in Bootle, Huyton, Birkenhead and other town centres across the region – including supporting the planned residential and commercial development in Liverpool North, which has the potential to deliver more than 10,000 new homes – including thousands of affordable homes – create thousands of jobs, and transform public spaces through investment in active travel infrastructure, highway upgrades and enhanced connectivity.
The £1.6bn investment comes on the back of several years of record level investment in transport across the region, including the rollout of a £500m fleet of state-of-the-art trains, the purchase of more than 100 new all-electric zero-emission buses, the extension of the Merseyrail network to Headbolt Lane in Kirkby and the building of the first new Mersey Ferry in more than 60 years.
The proposals for this latest round of funding – which are set to go before the Combined Authority this month – are designed to enable the further overhaul and expansion of the region’s public transport system, accelerating delivery of Mayor Rotheram’s vision of a network that is greener, more accessible, more affordable and better connected.
The approach also aligns with the Liverpool City Region’s latest Local Transport Plan which outlines how the network is set to grow and change by 2040. The plan, otherwise known as LTP4, is put together using feedback from residents and transport users with the latest round of consultation scheduled for early in the new year.
(Picture: Liverpool City Region)
