Dr Jon Lamonte said:

‘We look forward to working with new Secretary of State for Transport, Chris Grayling, as we deliver the transport investment programmes that our cities need. We believe that there are two main priorities for urban transport. The first is investment and the second is devolution. Our major cities and city regions are drivers of the national economy and as such need transport networks that support their economic growth as well as give them better connectivity with each other and the wider world. This means we need to ensure that there is stable and sustained long term investment in transport to create an environment where commerce and industry can have confidence that the transport links they need will be there.'

‘Our ability to ensure that available funding is best targeted has been underpinned by a process of devolution of transport powers in recent years. It's vital that this process continues as local transport planning is best determined by local decision making. In particular we need to see the Bus Services Bill that is currently before Parliament delivering on the promise to provide the city regions with a simpler legislative route to being able to properly plan bus services in the same way that our colleagues in London can. We also need to keep up the momentum on rail devolution as where powers over rail services have been devolved services have been improved - as can be seen on London Overground, Merseyrail and in Scotland.’

‘Exciting opportunities lie before us to take urban transport networks in our major cities to the next level of effectiveness and we look forward to working with Chris Grayling in the weeks and months ahead to achieve this.'

For more contact Jonathan Bray on 0113 251 7445 / 0781 804 1485