It’s time for Street to help get us back on the road

WEST Midlands Mayor Andy Street has waxed lyrical about new railway stations, reopening train lines and extended Metro tram routes. He also mentioned road improvements, which whilst welcome, does nothing to satisfy the requirements of West Midlands industry.

What’s required are new motorways to enable speedy and efficient transport of goods for export from Midland factories to the main British docksides.

The heavily used A14 from Catthorpe, in Leicestershire, to Felixtowe, the UK’s busiest port, needs to be either converted into a three-lane motorway, or a more direct road built.

Then the notorious A34 from Oxford to near Southampton also needs extra lanes, again to motorway standards.

In addition, the M54 at Telford should be extended to Holyhead to facilitate ferry traffic to Dublin – a growing market for British merchandise due to the state of the pound. My guess is that post-Brexit, Ireland will become even more important for British goods, so top quality road links are a must.

I am a little surprised the Welsh government has not been lobbying for this route to be improved, for at the moment, apart from the odd spur, the Principality only has one motorway, the M4, and that only goes to Swansea.

Government is seeing annual increases in revenue coming from road tax, as the number of vehicles on British roads increases, so theoretically, it should be well placed to fund these vital links.

When this tax was introduced in 1920, the Government of the day promised that all revenues would be devoted to upgrading and building new roads. In 1937 the Government renaged on the deal, with all monies collected going into general taxation.

Time now for our mayor to influence people at the top of Government. Russell Luckock is chairman of Birmingham pressings firm

AE Harris