North Yorkshire Council
Executive
15 July 2025
Acceptance of funding from the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority Local Transport Grant
Report of the Corporate Director – Environment
1.0 PURPOSE OF REPORT
1.1 To request approval from the North Yorkshire Council Executive to accept £10.8m capital and £0.5m revenue from the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority through the Local Transport Grant
2.0 BACKGROUND
2.1 York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority (YNYCA) has received notification of transport funding from the Department for Transport (DfT) for 2025/26 in three tranches:
· A new £15.372m Local Transport Grant (LTG).
· A £4.628m integrated transport block (ITB), continuing long-standing annual grants to local highway authorities that fund smaller transport schemes.
· £0.767m of Local Transport Resource Funding (LTRF), which can be used to fund the development of a new Local Transport Plan and associated policies, strategies, programmes and schemes.
2.2 All of this funding is available “for 2025/26 only”, April 2025 to March 2026. For the capital grants, the precise time limitations on this spend have not yet been forthcoming, YNYCA therefore propose that it will need to be allocated to schemes capable of commencing construction on-site by March 2026 at the latest.
3.0 LOCAL TRANSPORT GRANT
3.1 This is a new transport funding stream for 2025/26 only – funding for future years were announced as part of the governments Comprehensive Spending Review on 11 June 2025.
3.2 The scale of funding is considerable for a one-year settlement and careful consideration was given to determine which schemes it should be spent on. Firstly, all schemes would need to achieve our transport priorities; and secondly all schemes must be capable of rapid delivery in a restricted timescale, such that they are able to commence works by March 2026 at the latest.
3.3 The DfT letter set out a range of ways in which Government wishes the funding to be spent, encouraging “transformative and ambitious transport improvements” in the following categories:
· Highways maintenance.
· Local roads improvements.
· Bus infrastructure and information.
· Electric vehicle (EV) charging.
· Making street space more accessible and improving and active travel for all.
· Public realm improvements.
· Sustainable drainage schemes.
· Feasibility studies for the above activities.
3.4 The funding is not available for major highway schemes, or for rail schemes that involve ‘rail track’ – schemes involving improvements to the passenger environment at railway stations will be eligible.
3.5 YNYCA asked that this spend focus on transport improvements that benefit the travelling public and proposed that funds should only be allocated to highways maintenance and sustainable drainage schemes once all other options had been exhausted.
3.6 YNYCA also encouraged the use of this funding to deliver feasibility studies and scheme designs, developing a pipeline of schemes with a business case and outline design in readiness for future funding streams from 2026 onwards. It was proposed that £1.500m is dedicated to this purpose and initially allocated equally to YNYCA, North Yorkshire Council (NYC) and City of York Council (CYC) (these allocations can be flexed as pipeline workloads develop during the year).
4.0 NYC LTG SUBMISSION AND ALLOCATION
4.1 The NYC long list submission of priority 1 schemes contained capital schemes totalling £12,300,000 and one revenue development scheme totalling £600,000.
4.2 The long list also included schemes that are priority level 2 and 3. These schemes were not put forward for funding as part of this round of LTG.
4.3 The list of high priority schemes was examined by the CA transport team, in dialogue with officers from CYC and NYC, to analyse the delivery and acceptability risks identified by scheme promoters. As a result, it was determined that seventeen CYC schemes with a capital value of £6.936m, and seven NYC schemes with a capital value of £3.800m were considered low risk, high priority and suitable for immediate approval to proceed.
4.4 A further list of high priority schemes was identified where delivery risks remained. It was recommended by YNYCA that two schemes were removed from the programme and considered for future funding allocations, as there is a very low likelihood of mitigating the delivery risks within the required timescales:
· CYC – Strensall Public Rights of Way Footbridge replacement (£0.096m); and
· NYC – Portholme Road/Selby Station active travel scheme (£0.500m).
4.5 This left one scheme in CYC and three schemes in NYC where further information is required before the CA can be assured that they can go ahead within the timescales set out above. Funding has been provisionally allocated to these schemes as set out in the table below.
4.6 To expedite the delivery of these higher risk schemes in a timely manner the release of funding is delegated to the CA Head of Economy, who will work closely with the CA’s transport team and the promoting authority for each scheme to gather further information and ensure that residual risks have been mitigated. NYC are currently seeking clarification on what information is needed by YNYCA. It is likely that YNYCA will need to see evidence that the legal challenge in Harrogate has been satisfactorily concluded and that any outstanding negotiations with Network Rail regarding Skipton and Selby have also been concluded.
4.7 In total NYC have been awarded £11.300m comprising £3.800m to low-risk schemes for immediate approval to proceed, £7.000m to three higher risk schemes where further assurance is required before funds are released, and £0.500m for pipeline development. City of York Council have been awarded £7.456m comprising £6.936m to low-risk schemes for immediate approval to proceed, £0.020m to one higher risk scheme where further assurance is required before funds are released, and £0.500m for pipeline development.
4.8 Further details of all the successful schemes can be found in Appendix A.
5.0 CONTRIBUTION TO COUNCIL PRIORITIES
5.1 The ‘North Yorkshire Council ‘Council Plan 2024-2028’ sets out the priorities for the next four years. One such priority is to ‘promote and encourage active travel including walking, wheeling and cycling’. The schemes within this bid align with this priority and are expected to increase walking, wheeling and cycling.
5.2 The YNYCA Strategic Transport Framework commits to ensuring that active travel is a core part of an integrated transport network. In the long term this means a comprehensive network of lit, well-maintained walking, wheeling and cycle routes across the Combined Authority. The schemes within this bid will improve walking, wheeling and cycling routes across North Yorkshire.
6.0 FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
6.1 The YNYCA LTG allocation is £15.372m in total. It was proposed that a degree of ‘over-programming’ was included, such that the total capital value of the shortlist of schemes is greater than the funding available. This is in recognition that some schemes may well fall by the wayside during the year as various unanticipated circumstances arise. Given the higher delivery risks associated with some larger schemes in the programme, a significant layer of over-programming is recommended.
6.2 The total funding envelope available is therefore:
· £17.756m for capital schemes (£13.872m plus a 28% overprogramming layer); and
· £1.500m to develop a pipeline of schemes ready to draw down funding in future years.
6.3 NYC have been awarded £10.8m capital and £0.500m revenue for 25/26. Of which, £3.800m was considered low risk, high priority and suitable for immediate approval to proceed and £7.0m was consider higher risk where further assurance is required from NYC in order to proceed. NYC are currently seeking clarification on what additional information is needed by YNYCA. It is likely that YNYCA will need to see evidence that the legal challenge in Harrogate has been satisfactorily resolved and that any outstanding negotiations with Network Rail regarding Skipton and Selby have been concluded. The time it takes to provide this additional information and gain approval from YNYCA to approve may mean that work cannot begin this financial year which would put a significant amount of LTG funding at risk. This will have to be reviewed regularly to ensure that approvals are received in sufficient time to commence construction or be in contract before the end of 25/26.
6.4 The £0.500m revenue will be used to fund the Transport Planning project development budget. This will enable the development initiatives reserves to be redirected. Schemes will be developed to enable a pipeline of schemes for delivery in future years, including Seamer Station.
6.5 In summary, the schemes that have been approved for NYC are included in the table below and total £3.80m. Further details can be found in Appendix A, including delivery timescales and detailed descriptions of projects.
NYC schemes requiring additional assurance are below and total £7.0m:
6.6 The Council will not be required to provide any additional match funding to support any of these schemes.
7.0 LEGAL IMPLICATIONS
7.1 Department for Transport have not released any Terms and Conditions relating to the LTG. YNYCA will produce grant funding agreements
8.0 EQUALITIES IMPLICATIONS
8.1 Consideration has been given to the potential for any equality impacts arising from the
Recommendations. Equalities Impact Assessment screening has been carried out for schemes on an individual basis. See Appendix B
8.2 The proposed spend on transport improvements will enhance travel opportunities across York and North Yorkshire, including vulnerable people.
9.0 CLIMATE CHANGE IMPLICATIONS
9.1 There will be climate implications specific to each funded scheme. Climate Change Impact assessments will be produced for individual projects. See Appendix C
10.0 REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATIONS
10.1 The acceptance of LTG will ensure that work on transport schemes and delivery can continue and achieve good transport outcomes for our communities.
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11.0 |
RECOMMENDATION
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11.1 |
It is recommended that the North Yorkshire Council Executive approve the acceptance of £10.8m capital and £0.5m revenue from the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority through the Local Transport Grant |
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Appendices:
Appendix A – LTG 25/26 Successful Schemes
Appendix B – EIA Screening
Appendix C – CCIA Screening
Background documents: None
Karl Battersby
Corporate Director - Environment
County Hall
Northallerton
20 June 2025
Report Author – Louise Neale, Transport Planning Team Leader