A POT of £40 MILLION has been allocated for schemes in West Yorkshire to tackle the climate emergency.

The cash will be available to deal with what West Yorkshire's Mayor describes as "the biggest issue we face as a society" and it could be spent on scheme ranging from creating low carbon homes to enhancing nature in the region.

The announcement was made at a meeting of West Yorkshire Combined Authority at a meeting on Thursday.

The money will come from an allocation of £38m awarded annually by Government by West Yorkshire as part of the devolution deal. Called "gainshare funding," the authority has the power to allocate the money.

At Thursday's meeting members heard that between now and 2025, £40m of this funding will be allocated for "tackling the climate emergency and environmental sustainability."

Although no specific schemes have yet to be identified, a report to the committee said the funding could be used on projects that help reduce in regional emissions, enhance nature, support the development of local supply chains, create low carbon homes and reduce energy and fuel costs for people living in the region..

A chunk of the cash will be available to the five local Councils that make up West Yorkshire, including Bradford Council.

The Combined Authority has previously pledged to become net zero for carbon emissions by 2038.

At the meeting Ms Brabin said: "I'm so delighted that we've committed £40m, a quarter of the revenue funding from Gainshare, to the climate emergency.

"This is the single biggest investment we've made as a region to tackle the biggest issue we face as a society.

"To meet net zero by 2038 we need to act now in the 2020s."

She said her and other regional mayors would act as "the speedboats that turn the tankers of Westminster around to face this challenge."

Other areas that will get funding through the gainshare cash in the next three years include job creation (£21.5m), skills and training (£21m), "creating great places" (£12m), transport, including the creation of a West Yorkshire mass transit system (£58m) and culture and creative industries (£11.5m).

Ms Brabin said it was the first time a dedicated fund had been set aside for culture. It would be used to support cultural and creative businesses, increase employment in the sector and get more people in the region actively involved in culture.

Since the devolution deal the gainshare funding has been used to develop Covid recovery plans, fund a programme to re-skill adults who had lost their jobs and support the Beyond Brontes programme.