Roads, buses and railways set for £643m upgrade

Bus services, cycling routes and railway station upgrades are among the priorities in a £643m transport funding package for Lancashire over the next four years.

The Lancashire Combined County Authority (LCCA) has approved its Local Transport Delivery Plan, setting out how government funding will be spent between 2026 and 2030.

The biggest share of the money, £268m, will go towards road maintenance and improvements.

LCCA transport advisory board chairman Phil Riley said the programme would "make a difference" and show residents that the authority was "alive and kicking".

Speaking at the meeting, Mr Riley said the consultation had prompted a "flurry of new ideas" from Lancashire's district councils.

Some proposals were so large, he said, that the authority could "happily spend the whole budget umpteen times over".

"One of our challenges is going to be finding the polite way to say 'no'," he added.

Other major allocations include:

The authority is also drawing up a separate implementation plan detailing the specific schemes to be delivered, the Local Democracy Reporting Service, external has learned.

A public consultation attracted 1,800 responses, with 70 additional project suggestions now being considered ahead of the final plan's publication in November.

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