Hampshire CC has abandoned plans for a tram system, blaming the Government's failure to fund it. The authority had spent more than 10 years and at least £10m on proposals for its South Hampshire Rapid Transport System (SHRT). The aim was to relieve severe congestion around Gosport, with a tram linking Fareham, Gosport and Portsmouth. But the Department for Transport refused to part-fund the scheme to the tune of £170m, and so the council has had to scrap its plans. The council's leader, Cllr Ken Thornber, said: ‘It took years of planning to win approval from the Government in 2001, only for it to pull out two years later, citing high costs. ‘The blame for the abandonment of the tram scheme, in my opinion, lays squarely with the Government. We did all we could to meet its demands, but it has not only let us down, but also the 76,500 people who live in Gosport.' The council had claimed the system, to be run along a disused rail track, would have taken three million car journeys off the road each year.
