What have you done
in the first devolution deal, the land reclamation fund, is already being spent.
“The £350 million that came in the budget can relatively quickly be put to brownfield reclamation.
“The councils have come together and are collaborating. We only got that money because the Chancellor believed we would be able to deliver through that collaboration.”
He highlighted Icknield Port Loop in Ladywood, a major site for 1,000 homes which has been waiting 20 years for development. The region remains heavily congested while, in the background, work has started on the HS2 rail line. The Mayor is head of Transport for West Midlands.
He said: “A few years ago we were talking about projects, we are now
Conservative mayor Andy Street on the new Metro extension
digging up the ground to get working on them.
“One of the big successes for the past year was to get that money for the Metro extension through to Dudley.
“We’d been talking about that for 25 years, I hope it isn’t over personalising it, but I’d been in office six months and we’d got the cash.
“That’s the whole point about using the mayor’s position to lobby.
“We’ve got Metro extensions in central Birmingham, central Wolverhampton and Dudley all funded.
“On the rail franchise we obviously have got the new trains ordered, we’re not just talking about it.
“We’ve got £676 million over orders put down for new rolling stock.”
Mr Street highlighted new timetables coming in this year to increase the frequency of rail services.
A commitment has also been secured from the Department for Transport to reopen the Moseley rail line as well as the Wolverhampton to Walsall line.
The new Sprint rapid bus line along the Walsall Road is now funded as a result of securing the Commonwealth Games in 2022.
“Again, people have been talking about that for 15 years, but now we have people employed in my office doing the drawings about exactly where it will run.”
He added that road congestion remains a problem but these developments will help. This has been a hotly contested issue in the local council election where a debate over taxing high polluting private cars using the city has raged.
But Mr Street is clear that some form of charge on vehicles is necessary.
He said: “There has to be a pollution charge. We are going to have to do a clean air zone in the city. I will be supportive of whoever wins the city council elections to bring in that clean air zone.
“That’s the detail we will want to work through. I wouldn’t call it road charging and definitely wouldn’t call it congestion charging, but I believe there has to be a pollution charge.
“How far and who’s included has to be worked through. It’s because of the public health issue here. The data is inescapable.
“I am prepared to put a bit of leadership into this.” high-polluting The mayor’s cabinet is made up of the seven leaders of the core West