A WHARFEDALE MP has welcomed the launch of an inquiry into two failed transport schemes for Leeds.

A cross-party scrutiny panel at Leeds City Council is to examine the decisions that were taken regarding the Supertram and New Generation Trolleybus (NGT) proposals.

The council and West Yorkshire Combined Authority spent decades and £72 million in total developing both projects, only for them to be scrapped.

The Supertram scheme was abandoned by the Department for Transport in 2005 due to its costs, while the Government rejected the £250 million NGT proposal earlier this year.

MP Greg Mulholland (Lib Dem, Leeds North West) said: "I welcome this much-needed inquiry into the scrapping of both Supertram and NGT.

"Leeds has been greatly let down twice now and it must not happen again.

"What we also need, alongside this inquiry, is the right plan for a mass transit scheme for Leeds, so the £173 million (recently allocated by the Government to the city for transport) can now be spent properly and Leeds can finally get the first class, modern, light rail system it deserves.

"The inquiry must look at why then transport secretary Alistair Darling cancelled Supertram, having approved it, even though the cost-benefit analysis was at the level that the Department for Transport said it should have been

approved at.

"It must also look at why Leeds City Council and West Yorkshire Combined Authority refused to consider an alternative plan in case the inspector did not approve the scheme, which is, of course, what eventually happened."

The scrutiny panel will have to work its way through three decades' worth of paperwork as it evaluates the decision of the city council, combined authority and transport operator Metro.