What’s mayor Tracy Brabin been up to these past 6 months?
Half a year on from winning a second term as mayor of West Yorkshire, we asked the combined authority to list their achievements to date. Here's a good few of them.
We’re just over six months on from Tracy Brabin’s reelection as mayor of West Yorkshire (see our inaugural article for more on what that was all about) so we thought we’d check in with her team to get an idea of what they’ve been up to and how they think they’ve done. This is what they came up with, with some added notes from our good selves.
Transport
Mass transit network
What’s happened
WYCA has received more than 4,500 responses to the mayor’s mass transit consultation for Leeds (the aim is to connect people between St James’s University Hospital and the White Rose via Leeds city centre) and Bradford (connecting people between Bradford city centre and Leeds city centre).
What’s it about?
WYCA wants to introduce a new form of transport (i.e. that which is not currently in use in the area) to connect all of West Yorkshire. And that means introducing trams, which actually used to be common in many an English town and city once upon a time.
Timeline?
Not anytime soon. Spades in the ground by 2028, with the first lines up and running by the early 2030s.
Halifax bus station
What’s happened?
Halifax has got itself a brand new bus station. It cost £20 million to build and took over two years to complete. It is home to 9 bus stands, dedicated cycle parking and a newsagents.
What’s it about?
It’s part of WYCA’s efforts to get more people using public transport and, in turn, reduce their dependence on cars (as part of the Transforming Cities Fund programme). Less cars equals less pollution.
Anything else?
The roof is green and “covered in “bee-friendly plants”.
Bradford Superloop
What’s happened?
WYCA has introduced two new bus services that circle the whole of Bradford and parts of Leeds, which they’ve dubbed “Super Loop” services.
What’s it about?
The aim is to better connect “communities around the city with major hospitals, parks and shopping areas”.
Anything else?
An “orbital service” used to operate around the city over a decade ago, the WYCA has said. But it was axed by the private operator that ran it.
Walking, cycling and wheeling
What’s happened?
The WYCA has handed out nearly £500,000 to organisations that are encouraging more people in their communities to walk, cycle and wheel. In other words, to get more people to opt for “healthy active travel choices”.
What’s it about?
WYCA wants these organisations to become “one-stop shops for people to access everything they need to walk, cycle and wheel”, as part of its efforts to create a better, greener, more modern and integrated transport network across the region.
What’s wheeling?
This refers to individuals who use wheelchairs and mobility scooters. Over to Sustrans: “The term is advocated for by many disability-led organisations, such as the Mobility and Access Committee in Scotland and Wheels for Wellbeing, while being used by Transport for All.”
Skills
Overcoming barriers to employment
What’s happened?
A £9.5 million investment aimed at helping people facing barriers to employment “secure well-paid work” was announced earlier this year.
What’s it about?
Six new initiatives are being set up to help, among others, single parents, people with little or no digital skills, people with convictions and people who have faced discrimination because of their ethnicity.
What constitutes well-paid work?
Good question. We don’t know.
Region of learning and creativity
What’s happened
WYCA has earmarked over £60 million – funded through the devolved Adult Skills Fund – for colleges, councils and education providers to upskill school leavers and adult learners across the region.
What’s it about?
WYCA wants more people to stay and have a career in West Yorkshire. But that’s only one part of the agenda – there are specific labour shortages in the county and, accordingly, £4.5 million is being allocated to tackle this.
What else?
A rough breakdown of the cash is as follows: approximately £50 million is going to colleges, around £7 million is being shared between Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds and Wakefield councils and over £4 million is being handed out to “specialist training providers”.
Business
Nashville, Tennessee health boost
What’s happened?
The mayor has signed a “trade, investment and knowledge sharing” agreement with her Nashville counterpart that is designed to “deliver new jobs, more investment, and better care for patients”.
What’s it about?
West Yorkshire is looking to invest big in healthcare with a view to strengthening what it describes as a “thriving” health and life sciences sector (the region is already home to over 600 health and life sciences companies and St James's University Hospital, which is one of the largest teaching hospitals in Europe).
What’s going on in Tennessee?
Tennessee is the third biggest state in the US for the export of medical supplies and equipment. It’s also where Jack Daniel’s originates from.
Culture
You can make it here
What’s happened?
As part of the £2.3 million You Can Make It Here programme, which launched in January, the WYCA has created a new music network to “connect creative musical talent with opportunities in West Yorkshire”, provided grants totalling £60,000 to organisations to improve accessibility and set up a masterclass programme aimed at creative freelancers and microbusinesses.
What’s it about?
The idea behind You Can Make It Here is to give individuals and organisations in the region’s creative sector, which the WYCA says is “booming”, the support they need to flourish because “culture drives growth”.
What’s a microbusiness?
If you have fewer than 10 employees and turn over less than £1.8 million a year – or thereabouts – then you’re considered to have a microbusiness.
Inspiring youngsters to pursue creative careers
What’s happened?
The mayor is providing schools and colleges with free support to help them inspire more young people from the region to consider pursuing a career in the creative sector – and in West Yorkshire.
What’s it about?
Dubbed Careers in the Arts, the initiative is designed to highlight just how varied the creative sector in the region is. This is also a key focus area for other mayors in the north – hence the partnership One Creative North.
Climate
Speeding towards net zero
What’s happened?
The new West Yorkshire Strategic Climate and Environment Partnership is aiming to speed up the region’s ambitious plans to get to net zero by 2038.
What’s it about?
It’s about making the planet cleaner and greener – and not shrinking away from tackling climate change regionally. Four private companies will play a role in this: Centrica, Daikin, SSE and Sustainable Building Services.
António Guterres, the UN secretary, what’s he saying?
He’s saying: “With the hottest day on record, the hottest months on record, this is almost certain to be the hottest year [2024] on record – and a masterclass in climate destruction.”
Loans to slash energy bills
What’s happened?
The Home Energy West Yorkshire initiative is offering homeowners the ability to save money over the long term by offering them low-interest loans that can be spent on energy-saving home improvements.
What’s it about?
High energy bills and poorly heated homes are a vicious cycle. The WYCA wants to help end that by providing homeowners with loans of between £5,000 and £25,000 – with a fixed interest rate of 3.26% – to do whatever they need to make their properties warmer and more cost-effective (solar panels, insulation, heat pumps, etc).
What about renters?
Landlords can also apply for loans to make their properties more energy efficient, so too small to medium businesses.
Housing
West Yorkshire Housing Strategy 2040
What’s happened?
A “new dawn” for house building in West Yorkshire – that’s the sell. The WYCA has brought together all five of the region’s local authorities to “boost housing supply, build affordable homes, improve existing homes and create vibrant communities”.
What’s it about?
At the heart of this new strategy – dubbed the first of its kind for West Yorkshire – is an ambition to build around 38,000 new homes by 2040. It’s needed. According to the combined authority, there are roughly 85,000 people on a waiting list for a council home in West Yorkshire.
Britain is going to get building again, right?
Well, so says the Labour government, which is planning on building 1.5 million new homes over the next five years. It’s one hell of a challenge – turning around 300,000 new houses a year, while not unprecedented, has not been achieved for many, many years.
Police and crime
Take from the criminals, give to the deserving
What’s happened?
Money amounting to more than half a million pounds that was seized from criminals has been given to a number of organisations who are committed to making the region a safer place to live.
What’s it about?
It’s part of the Mayor's Safer Communities Fund, which basically puts criminal cash and assets to good use. Projects that have been granted funding include Show Racism the Red Card in Kirklees and the Pudsey Community Project in Leeds.
What did mayor Brabin say?
She said: “The reason we choose to reinvest this money taken from criminals is the huge difference these projects can make to the lives of people they support in our communities.”
Safer roads for all
What’s happened?
The WYCA has launched a new plan to “eradicate all road deaths and serious injuries” across the region over the next 15 years, as part of its West Yorkshire Vision Zero Strategy.
What’s it about?
In 2023, 1,450 people lost their lives on West Yorkshire’s roads. It was 1,413 in 2022 and 1,114 in 2019. This upward trend is troubling and highlights serious problems in road safety.
How will it be achieved?
A multifaceted approach that aims to deliver safer roads, safer behaviours, safer speeds, safer vehicles and better post-collision responses. The first goal is a 50% reduction in deaths by 2030.