Tramsform campaign still on track

By Frank Mckenna on Oct 23, 09 11:53 AM

A letter from Government minister Sadiq Khan that was released earlier this week seemed to suggest that the potential for the building of a tram system across the Liverpool City Region was, in the foreseeable future, dead in the water.
The minister's correspondence indicated that the absence of the scheme from a list of regional transport priorities, compiled earlier this year, meant that Mersey Travel and its partners had missed a crucial window of opportunity to present its case for the tram.

However, following a series of conversations with leading players from across the region, and in Westminster this week, I have to say that the announcement of the trams 'death' has been greatly exaggerated.
What motivated the minister to write such a letter at this time seems a little baffling to say the least.
The timetable that Mersey Travel is working to includes two crucial meetings during the next month. Firstly, the business case for the project will be presented to the Transport Authority next week; and the support of the city region cabinet will then be sought in November.
Assuming these obstacles are cleared, and from the information I have seen, I fail to see how Merseyside's political leadership cannot get behind this much needed initiative. Then it is inconceivable that a strong case will not be made to the Department of Transport to provide the necessary funding that will give our city the modern, twenty first century transport system it deserves.

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