County Durham’s transport funding has been cut by over 50 million pounds, with the money being pledged during the conservatives’ leadership in February of last year. Officials worry that the rest of the North East may see similar cuts in other areas in desperate need of funds to repair and improve transport infrastructure.
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00:00This concerning cut to funds of course prompts questions about how much funding major projects
00:06such as the restoration of the Tyne Bridge and the Gateshead flyover will have. Labour
00:11ministers were urged last year to honour the pledge made during Rishi Sunak's premiership,
00:16with local leaders warning that a failure to do so would be completely unacceptable
00:20and inflict significant harm to our economy.
00:26The money was allocated to Durham as a share of the £4.7bn of the local transport fund
00:31in February 2024, however news of the funding cut adds a series of concerns about whether
00:36the Labour government will back up the upgrading of critical infrastructure across the north-east
00:41and deliver on promises to close the north-south divide.
00:45I spoke with locals from County Durham to find out what they thought on these cuts.
00:49I think it's definitely a north-south divide. I'm quite happy with the transport, I use
00:54it a lot, even though I've got a car, I do use the transport a lot and most of the time
00:59it's very good.
01:01Just what you hear and see on the television, they seem as though they achieve more than
01:04what we do, more than that.
01:06In fact I don't travel near Castlebush at all now, but I love coming to Durham, because
01:12I can get the bus in no bother.
01:16I think that on the whole I don't think that's actually bad in Durham, the transport, but
01:23obviously I wouldn't like this to be any worse than it is, and it's certainly a north-south
01:28divide.
01:29Although having said that, there is an investment, but actually as far as transport is concerned,
01:35public transport is concerned, it's actually better in the north than it is in the south
01:40actually.
01:41There's also been fears that upgrades of the Setonburn and Moher farm roundabout on the
01:46A19 could be under similar threat, while the new government have also failed to hand over
01:51the final £6m promised towards the restoration of the Tyne Bridge and the Central Motorway.