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Light Rail

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Rochdale (Paul Rowen) on securing a timely and important debate. I shall begin with a slight declaration of interest, because my grandfather was an inspector when Liverpool had trams, and my great-grandfather played a part in building them. We are all aware that the period from the 1950s to the 1990s was a bad one for such transport. We seem to be on the cusp of a new dawn, however, because people have realised the benefits in terms of a modal shift: getting the business man out of his car, the reduction in pollution, the regeneration, and the reduction in congestion. But to many of us, that new dawn is turning out to be a false dawn. The Leeds scheme has gone belly up, the Hampshire and Liverpool schemes are not to proceed, and Metrolink is still in some doubt. The supposition is that that is all a response to escalating costs and a new tough Treasury stance, which, as my hon. Friend the Member for Rochdale pointed out, does not apply to road transport schemes. On average, the costs of local transport plan schemes are 42 per cent. more than what was predicted. Only one recent Highways Agency scheme has come in under cost. None the less, it must be acknowledged that some newer schemes are more expensive than some of the initial ones. The estimated cost per kilometre was about £10.2 million for completed schemes and it is about £13.2 million for those that are projected. That is a real difference. However, it is not a linear difference—an obvious, continuous escalation. For example, there is a significant difference between the cost per kilometre for Sheffield and Manchester. There is no clear pattern at the moment. The Minister is on record as saying something to the effect that we must find out why it costs twice as much to build trams—