Metro Chairman Cllr Chris Greaves today described Leeds City Council's Executive Board's approval of a 'best and final' bid for the planned NGT trolleybus network as 'an important step in trying to get the Department for Transport (DfT) to make an early decision on the scheme'.

"During his recent visit, we showed Transport Secretary Philip Hammond part of the planned trolleybus route," said Cllr Greaves.

"We also reminded him that the scheme is forecast to increase the annual GDP of Leeds City Centre by £176m or almost three per-cent, create 4,000 additional city centre jobs and a further 250 running the network.

"He was impressed with these figures and agreed that NGT would represent a transformational improvement in the quality of transport in Leeds."

The West Yorkshire Integrated Transport Authority's Executive Board will be asked to approve the bid at its next meeting in June before a planned submission to the DfT in the summer. Leeds hopes this will help achieve an earlier decision on the scheme which would minimise the cost increases caused by the current delay.

Councillor Richard Lewis, Leeds City Council's executive member responsible for development said, "The NGT trolleybus network's ability to tackle congestion and reduce the city's carbon footprint will speed Leeds' recovery from recession.

"It is so important we get this bid to the government sooner rather than later to prevent costs going up even more. I think the people of Leeds have waited long enough to get this scheme off the ground so we will continue our work to press the government on the urgent need to deliver this scheme."