New West Yorkshire Integrated Transport Authority (WYITA) Chairman Cllr Chris Greaves said he was alarmed by news that the Government has ordered that preparation work for a high-speed rail route to Leeds be put "on hold".

"Independent research has already shown that high-speed Yorkshire link could generate over £30bn of benefits," he said.

Blow

"This decision to delay preparation work for a link through Yorkshire would be a blow to the whole of the east of England, from East Anglia to Tyneside, and a setback to the ports of the Humber and Harwich, which stand to benefit from the new route."

"Anything other than a Y-shaped network that takes in Yorkshire would be wrong because by the time people had snaked backward and forwards across the country to Yorkshire, any benefit of high-speed travel would be lost," he continued. "Everyone would get off at Manchester."

Productivity benefits

Research commissioned by Metro and South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive (SYPTE) last year showed that over £30bn of benefits could be generated from a high-speed rail network serving Sheffield and Leeds. The report, produced by Arup with economic specialist Volterra, stated that a high-speed Yorkshire link could provide between £1.5bn and £3bn of productivity benefits to the economy in addition to transport benefits of around £29bn.

Metro and SYPTE have commissioned Arup and Volterra to develop further evidence on the employment and other benefits of a direct high-speed rail route to Yorkshire. Senior transport representatives from West and South Yorkshire will be meeting in early July to discuss the evidence provided by the further research.