Member News
Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen has welcomed the announcement by the Prime Minister Boris Johnson that Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool will get a share of £4.2bn in transport funding.
The new cash can be used to help fund contactless ticketing, new metro or light rail systems, significant improvements in local rail and bus services, new cycle lanes and measures to tackle congestion and traffic pollution.
Since 2017 Mayor Houchen has secured £101m millions in transport funding from government for Teesside, and continues to work with ministers and officials to secure more transport cash for the region.
Mayor Houchen is in talks with the Department for Transport to get them to agree to fund a new crossing over the River Tees, a project that will ease congestion and make it quicker and easier for local people and businesses to get from A to B. In order to make the project a reality Mayor Houchen has backed the new Tees Crossing with £24million. To help deliver the new critical crossing the mayor has also brought forward plans to build a new road between Marston Road and the A1032 Newport Bridge Approach Road, with £11.5million in funding.
Commenting Mayor Houchen said: “This is fantastic news from the Prime Minister and will mean we can supercharge improvements to transport across Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool.
“Between now and 2029 we will spend nearly £342million on making transport better for local people. Not only does this mean local people and businesses can get to where they need to be quickly and easily, good transport links are essential to attracting businesses looking to invest and bring a significant number of local jobs to the area.
“As welcome as this new cash is I will continue to fight for our regions fair share, and this means getting the government to put its hand in its pocket for some of the huge transport infrastructure projects I’m pushing forward. Projects like the redevelopment of Darlington station and the new Tees Crossing are truly transformational and have a huge price tag, but I expect the government to back them.”
