Janice R. Andrews
The head of Nottinghamshire Council has responded to worries about the county’s exclusion from a £1 billion fund intended to reroute HS2 funding for improvements to local transportation in a recent statement. Even though money has been distributed to nearby areas, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire have not gotten any share of the new fund.
The East Midlands will receive almost £1 billion beginning in April 2025, the Government has confirmed, which will enable vital transportation improvements for smaller cities, towns, and rural communities over the following seven years.
Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, however, were not included in the list of awardees. Rather, substantial chunks of the budget are expected to go to places like Northamptonshire, Leicestershire, and Lincolnshire, with the latter receiving the most at £262,339,000.
The leader of the Nottinghamshire County Council, Councillor Ben Bradley, who is running for East Midlands Mayor on behalf of the Conservative Party, stated that Nottinghamshire’s funding portion will go through the new mayoral body.
He emphasized that money has already been given to Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire through a different £1.5 billion transportation budget that is specifically assigned to the East Midlands Combined Authority.
According to Councillor Bradley, combined authority regions already receive funds, hence they were left out of the most recent funding announcements. Still, he confirmed that talks with the government about further transportation funding are still going on.
When the government launched the £1.5 billion transport fund last year, it highlighted possible initiatives like building a fast bus transit system to connect Derby to East Midlands Parkway and expanding Nottingham’s tram system. Redistributing HS2 financing is something Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is excited about. He highlights the significance of enabling local leaders to fund essential transportation projects, referring to this process as “levelling up in action.”
