West Yorkshire Combined Authority speaks at our levelling up debate in Leeds

Image above of Leeds City Square: courtesy Rushbond

We are delighted that Liz Hunter, Director of Policy and Development at the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, will be speaking at Future Cities Forum in Leeds next month.

Liz is responsible for the development of economic, transport, and environmental policies and programmes for West Yorkshire. Previous to this appointment Liz was Head of Transport Policy for 4 years, and before that worked at Leeds City Council. She was Head of the Strategy Unit at the Department for Transport, and Head of Strategic Reform (Transport) at HM Treasury from 2010 to 2012. She wrote, as Business Case Manager, the business case for a high speed rail line (HS2) between London, the West Midlands and beyond. Liz has a Masters degree in Social and Political Sciences from Cambridge University.

With the Mayor of West Yorkshire as its directly-elected chair, the West Yorkshire Combined Authority brings together the local authorities of Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds and Wakefield, working in partnership with the LEP and the City of York. This way of working combines the insights and benefits of private sector knowledge and expertise through the LEP with robust, transparent, public sector governance, accountability and oversight from the Combined Authority. This is important as the region takes on further devolved powers and funding from central Government.

The Authority states:

'We are working hard to make our region be recognised globally as a place with a strong, successful economy where everyone can build great businesses, careers and lives supported by a sustainable environment and world-class infrastructure. It means we can put the long term needs of our communities and the people who live and work in West Yorkshire at the heart of everything we do, ensuing we can support inclusive growth and supporting the needs of our region's employers.'

The WYCA plays a central role in travel across West Yorkshire, operating the Metro network of almost 14,000 bus stops, travel centres and public transport information across the region, and working closely with West Yorkshire bus operators to improve services and the bus network. Metro supports free and subsidised travel, concessionary fares, transport to and from school for more than 40,000 West Yorkshire pupils, and manages the MCard travel card.