25-year transport plan revealed Major road and rail investment strategy to boost Midland economy by £5bn
ANEW 25-year vision to improve road and rail infrastructure across the Midlands region has been revealed.
Midlands Connect, the body tasked with improving connectivity between the West and East Midlands, has spent 18 months compiling its report into the future of transport in the region.
The strategy has now been presented to government and aims to boost the region’s economy by £5 billion and contribute to the Midland Engine’s target of creating 300,000 new jobs.
Called ‘Midlands Connect Strategy: Powering the Midlands Engine’, it contains a series of proposals aimed at releasing bottlenecks and increasing productivity. Among the key proposals are: The Midlands Rail Hub, which will help release up to an extra 85,000 train seats across the network every day and allow up to ten extra trains an hour through central Birmingham;
Work to help relieve traffic pressures across part of the Midlands’ motorway network, including the future roles of the A42 and A5 corridors in improving east and west links;
Improvements along the A46 corridor, running from Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire to the Lincolnshire coast, to support the manufacturing sector;
Works to the A52 corridor between Derby and Nottingham including access to the East Midlands HS2 Hub Station at Toton and East Midlands Airport by the end of 2020; Increase intelligent connectivity across the Midlands which could involve smart and digital travel applications as well as trials for connected passenger and freight autonomous vehicles. Midlands Connect will use £17 million of government funding over the next three years to undertake the planning and design work on early priorities. It will also draw up the business cases needed to pursue a rolling 25-year programme of transport infrastructure investment.
Sir John Peace, chairman of Midlands Connect and Midlands Engine, said: “We sit at the heart of the UK’s transport network and therefore an investment in this region’s transport will have a remarkable benefit to the whole country and create a positive ripple effect to boost the development of industry, skills and infrastructure.
“This strategy will help to secure the further infrastructure funding needed to lay the groundwork for improved connectivity across the Midlands, bringing the East and West closer together and opening the region’s businesses to the world.”
Publication of the blueprint follows Chancellor Philip Hammond’s launch of the Midlands Engine Strategy which sets out almost £400 million worth of spending projects in the region by the Government.
Midlands Connect is a collaboration of councils and local enterprise partnerships across