Frequently Asked Questions

The title of this Local Transport Plan reflects its status as a plan that is owned by all areas of West Yorkshire and the ultimate responsibility of the Mayor of West Yorkshire. In 2021 the West Yorkshire Combined Authority became a Mayoral Combined Authority. Tracy Brabin was elected Mayor of West Yorkshire in 2021 and re-elected in 2024. The statutory order to become a Mayoral Combined Authority afforded the function of preparing and regularly reviewing Local Transport Plans to the elected Mayor. As such, this is the Mayor’s West Yorkshire Local Transport Plan.  

The plan guides all transport policy and investment across the West Yorkshire region, however some duties, such as local highways, remain the responsibility of the local authorities. Therefore, and recognising the importance of a Local Transport Plan that benefits the whole region, this plan has been co-developed with the five West Yorkshire local authorities - Bradford Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds and Wakefield. 

In May 2025, Mayor Tracy Brabin unveiled The Weaver Network, the new identity for transport in West Yorkshire.   The Weaver Network will encompass bus, proposed tram, bike, walking and wheeling infrastructure. It will be the single unifying thread that stitches all parts of the transport network together, helping us to deliver a more seamless passenger experience however you choose to travel. The Weaver Network is our ambition to deliver a leading transport network under one unifying name and identity. It is a celebration of our industrial heritage and our promise to create a better future. 

The Local Transport Plan we are currently consulting on sets out how we will deliver the Weaver Network.  

You can find out more about the Weaver Network and this Local Transport Plan, by reading Your Journey. My promise, available here: https://www.yourvoice.westyorks-ca.gov.uk/43412/widgets/130175/documents/88495

The Local Transport Plan sets the strategic direction for the future of transport across West Yorkshire, as well as the policies and priorities for investment that will help us get there. This means that however you get around – whether you walk, wheel, cycle, drive, use public transport or do all these things – it will make a difference to you. Some policies and commitments might have a direct impact on how you travel.  .  

This Local Transport Plan will also guide Local Authorities and the more local policies, improvements and interventions for transport.  

By making improvements to transport across West Yorkshire, we will deliver improvements in other things too such as the economy, health, access to housing and jobs, levels of pollution and making places more pleasant to spend time in. 

Having a say through this consultation will help us shape a Local Transport Plan that is fair and takes into account a range of differing needs and views, therefore bringing the most benefits to West Yorkshire. 

This Local Transport Plan is prioritising policies and interventions that will deliver major improvements to public transport and active travel, and measures that integrate our transport network. We want to make using the Weaver Network the “rational choice” for people. To do this we are promoting policy interventions and funding towards measures that will lead to game-changing improvements in public transport and active travel, and measures that integrate them.  

We understand that cars and other vehicles are still a vital part of everyday life and they will still play a role across our transport network.  But equally, we want to provide genuinely attractive alternatives that reduce unnecessary car journeys that could be made by other means of transportation and give people a real choice on how they travel. Making it a more appealing, affordable option to take public transport, walk, wheel or cycle, or a combination of them, is our mission.   

To deliver the transformational benefits of our leading transport network, we will need to change the ways we use our streets. We want streets which are clean, safe and well maintained. We also need to deliver a new Mass Transit system, improve priority for buses and create safer spaces for walking, cycling and wheeling. We recognise that the way we use our streets differs across West Yorkshire and our transport network needs to respond to this to ensure the right transport is provided in the right place and allows people to choose how they want to travel. 

To develop a Local Transport Plan that works for all of us now and in the future, we have worked closely with the five West Yorkshire local authorities (Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds and Wakefield), as well as the public and stakeholders.   

Following engagement in 2024 on our vision, objectives and network principles and the feedback that we gathered through this, we have developed a draft Local Transport Plan. This contains more details on the specific policies we propose to introduce which support our vision and objectives and how these policies can be delivered through our vision for our Weaver Network.  

We want everyone to have the opportunity to shape West Yorkshire’s future. That’s why we want you to have your say on the projects, strategies and plans we are working on and this consultation (open until 21 October) allows you to have your say on the future of transport in West Yorkshire.  

After this consultation closes we will analyse the feedback we receive and reflect this in our published Local Transport Plan which will be presented for adoption by the Mayor at a meeting of the Combined Authority in 2026.  

We want everyone to have the opportunity to shape West Yorkshire’s future. That’s why we want you to have your say on the projects, strategies and plans we are working on with this Local Transport Plan consultation running until 21 October 2025.  

This consultation builds on what you have told us already about the strategic direction, vision and objectives of the Local Transport Plan through an engagement exercise that we ran during 2024. The Local Transport Plan that is being consulted on contains more details on the specific policies we can introduce which support our vision and objectives and how these policies can be delivered through our vision for our Weaver Network. 

If you want to have your say, please make sure you respond before this time. All documents and questionnaires can be found at www.yourvoice.westyorks-ca.gov.uk/ltp.  

After this consultation closes we will analyse the feedback we receive and reflect this in our published Local Transport Plan which will be presented for adoption by the Mayor at a meeting of the Combined Authority in 2026.  

An up-to-date Local Transport Plan is essential to support ongoing work on Mass Transit and bus franchising.  

For Mass Transit, the LTP will form part of the formal process we will have to go through before we can start delivering the first routes. This means that the timescales for the two projects are very closely linked. Last year we ran the Local Transport Plan engagement at the same time as the Mass Transit consultation to make sure we could reflect on the policies needed for the next stages of development of Mass Transit.  

For bus franchising, the new Local Transport Plan will play a vital role in setting the strategic direction for the future of transport across West Yorkshire, at what is a crucial time, to support us in making the most of the significant opportunity we have following the decision to take control of the buses in the biggest shake up to public transport in the region for decades. 

This Local Transport Plan has been developed alongside our five West Yorkshire local authority  partners. As the Transport Authority, West Yorkshire Combined Authority is responsible for bringing our LTP together, working with the five local authorities of Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds and Wakefield.  

The Mayor’s Local Transport Plan brings together our region’s ambitions into a statutory document. Local authority transport strategies are non-statutory transport plans that set out how the Local Transport Plan polices will be applied in different geographic areas at a local level, as well as how LTP outcomes and targets will be achieved across each partner local authority. 

By working with teams involved in transport and other teams at the five West Yorkshire Local Authorities, we’re making sure their knowledge of each area’s different transport needs is at the heart of shaping the new Local Transport Plan. This consultation is also an important way for us to hear different experiences and perspectives from across the region’s diverse places and communities.  

We are taking active steps to make sure we hear from a truly representative sample of people in West Yorkshire. This includes regularly reviewing responses to the consultation and tailoring our communications to reach people we do not normally hear from and holding focus groups to get in-depth feedback from people across our communities.  

The Combined Authority has a vision to be a leader recognised nationally for the focus and commitment to equality, diversity, and inclusion. The Combined Authority’s Equality objectives are set out our website.

Inclusion is at the heart of the LTP vision and objectives and policies developed for our new LTP have inclusion at the heart, aiming to serve the diverse communities of West Yorkshire and remove barriers to using transport, making access more equitable.  

We are currently developing a more detailed approach to EDI within our transport projects, programmes and service delivery which will be published as a separate document and we will engage on this in the future as part of a transport EDI strategy.  

We recognise that the way we travel has a substantial impact on our environment and this is why one of our objectives is to tackle the climate emergency. If we are to succeed in delivering against this objective, we need a major shift in how we as a region get around. To do this we are promoting a number of policy interventions towards measures that will lead to game-changing improvements in public transport and active travel, and measures that integrate them.  

In addition to delivering the vision and objectives, it is important that the Mayor’s Local Transport Plan contributes to sustainable development by protecting the environment, protecting the health and quality of life of residents and visitors, and promoting equality of opportunity and sustainable economic growth.  

To ensure this, and in line with statutory requirements, independent assessment of the plan has been undertaken against relevant environmental, economic and social outcomes, and collated into an Integrated Sustainability Appraisal. A Habitats Regulation Assessment (HRA), to assess effects of the draft Plan on European sites has also been conducted and reported separately. These assessments represent an early opportunity to consider how the Plan can contribute to promote sustainable development, as well as to identify and mitigate any potential harmful impacts during implementation.   

The assessment process has provided independent review and challenge to our draft objectives, policies and interventions, and is available to view and comment on as a supporting document as part of this consultation. Its conclusions and recommendations, together with those collated during the consultation period, will be used to review and enhance the draft Plan’s proposals.  

The Combined Authority has a vision to be a leader recognised nationally for the focus and commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI). As such, EDI is a key element across the Local Transport Plan. Ensuring that we consider our duty to those groups with protected characteristics, as well as the potential to have wider benefits for social inclusion, will be essential for its success. Inclusion is at the heart of the Local Transport Plan, aiming to serve the diverse communities of West Yorkshire and remove barriers to using transport, making access more equitable.  

We are currently developing a more detailed approach to EDI within our transport projects, programmes and service delivery which will be published as a separate document and we will engage on in future as part of a transport EDI strategy.