£100m to get Midlands On track after lockdown
Sunak signals green light for new stations and town centre
CHANCELLOR Rishi Sunak has backed several major projects in the Midlands with hard cash in a bid to kick-start the economy after the Covid crisis.
In Wednesday’s Budget Mr Sunak confirmed £59 million of funding to reopen stations at Darlaston and at Willenhall, on the Walsall to Wolverhampton line, and at Moseley, Kings Heath and Hazelwell, near Stirchley, on the Camp Hill line.
The West Midlands Combined Authority is also expected to agree the full funding for this scheme at a meeting in two weeks’ time. It will mean that there is now enough money to press ahead with the longawaited reopening plans.
Two trains an hour are expected to pass through the stations once they are open.
Moseley station will see an entrance created in St Mary’s Row, with a roundabout replacing previous plans for traffic lights at the junction with Oxford Road.
Platforms will be provided on both sides of the tracks, accessible by lifts and steps, and there will be a vehicle drop-off point and storage for 52 bicycles.
Original stations in both Darlaston and Willenhall were shut in 1965, and the lines have only been used by through trains ever since.
The new Darlaston station will be constructed on the old AB Waste Management site in Cemetery Road and will feature a new station, two platforms, a footbridge, steps and a 300-space car park.
Willenhall’s new facility will see old industrial buildings in Bilston Street and Rose Hill demolished to make way for the station, two platforms, footbridge and a 33-space car park was well as improved pedestrian crossing facilities in Bilston Street.
The Budget also included £50 million towards the development of transport infrastructure in a new town centre around the HS2 station in Solihull borough.
The project – called UK Central but also known as Arden Cross – will be built near the HS2 Interchange station.
The 346-acre development will create 3,000 new homes and up to six million square feet of commercial space, and is designed to make the most of the economic opportunities provided by HS2.
The new HS2 Interchange station at its heart will be just 38 minutes away from central London.
It will be connected to a new light rail people mover, transporting up to 2,100 passengers per hour between Birmingham Airport, the NEC, the new HS2 station and the existing Birmingham International railway station.
The town will be designed so that residents do not need cars to get around, with walking and cycling routes, as well as public transport schemes, built in.
The £50 million capital, which will be matched by a further £45 million from regional partners, will also be used to develop a gigantic multi-storey car park next to the new station, 1.2 miles east of Birmingham Airport.
The project will enable transport chiefs to build the multi-storey car park rather than the surface level scheme which had been included in the original plans for the site next to the M42.
It would have seen 7,400 parking spaces built over 22 acres of greenbelt land.
It was something Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council and the Urban Growth Company, which was set up to maximise the benefits of HS2 coming to the borough, had been campaigning to avoid.
Securing funding for the multistorey building means land can now be used for residential and commercial purposes as part of the major regeneration next to the station.
The overall scheme is expected to create and safeguard 70,000 jobs and create commercial space.
Solihull Council leader Councillor Ian Courts said: “It’s fantastic news for Solihull to secure such a significant investment in the Budget.
“This vital financial injection provides the stimulus for us to begin to realise the incredible development opportunity.
“Constructing a multi-storey car park as opposed to tarmacking
swathes of valuable land allows us to maximise the benefits HS2 brings directly to Solihull and its residents.”
Urban Growth Company’s chairman Nick Brown added: “Securing this funding is a tremendous achievement and a transformational step in delivering ambitious economic growth.
“We can now build the infrastructure needed to support the delivery of jobs, homes and growth, creating the best connected place for business, leisure and living in Europe.
“The Urban Growth Company has been working closely with its public and private sector partners for several years to develop an alternative solution to the land-hungry surface car parking originally planned for the HS2 Interchange. We worked hard to build early consensus that this alternative multi-storey parking proposal was the only way we would truly be able to deliver the full economic, social and environmental benefits we know to be possible.”
Andy Street, the Conservative mayor of the West Midlands, said: “The Chancellor has done exactly what we asked of him, and set out clear and wide-ranging support to help see West Midlands businesses and the self-employed through to the end of the road map and into the recovery stage.
“I am particularly pleased to see our asks for the West Midlands responded to so well, with significant cash for reopening old railway stations and lines, reviving town and city centres, and making the most of HS2 with the cash to get the incredibly ambitious plans for UK Central in Solihull off the ground.
“The pandemic has really hurt the West Midlands economy, but with the measures announced today, alongside our local plans, I am confident we will be able to bounce back quickly and start getting people back into work.”
THESE dusty bottles of 120-year-old beer are at the centre of Jurassic Lager experiments that puts the IPA in DNA technology.
For some years, scientists have probed the possibility of bringing prehistoric insect species, preserved in blocks of amber, back to life.
Now they’re doing the same sort of thing with the amber nectar.
Boffins have captured live yeast from the Bass beer bottles, originally sold to celebrate King Edward VII’s 1902 visit to the brewery town of Burton upon Trent. They hope to use the live culture to create the ales served during Victorian and Edwardian times.
The work is being undertaken by the University of Sunderland and brewery school Brewlab.
The King’s Ale royal tipple – actually a barley wine – certainly had a kick at 10 per cent. And they are, due to their complex yeast character, considered among the best beers sold in Edwardian times.
Keith Thomas, director of Brewlab, a provider of brewing training and analysis, said the bottles had been bought from an antiques shop 10 years ago.
They were capped with lead seals.
The beer was brewed in February 1902, and matured in casks until bottled in 1905, 1911, 1929 and 1977.
It was made to mark King Edward VII’s visit to the brewery town in 1902 – his first public visit to Burton since his accession to the throne.
During his stay, the monarch toured Bass’s HQ and officially started the brewing process for King’s Ale. The current study, which puts micro-breweries under the microscope, has been published in the Journal of the Institute of Brewing.
The scientists analysed microbial DNA in the King’s Ale bottles to identify yeasts and bacteria present.
They uncovered “debaryomyces” – an incredibly rare yeast species. That discovery confirmed traditional beers were fermented with a mix of yeast species. Lactic acid bacteria was also identified and that would contribute to the complexity of the beer.
Analysis of the beer provided information on strength, bitterness, pH, colour and residual sugars, allowing recipes to be developed. The isolated yeasts are currently under investigation in test brews. That means 100-year-old beers – stronger and more complex than today’s brands - may soon be back on shelves.
Mr Thomas said: “Our analysis provide a unique insight into the microbiology of Victorian and Edwardian brewing which is often felt to be a golden era of beers.
“We were very fortunate to isolate living yeast which we are studying in more detail.”
Dr Lewis Bingle, from Sunderland University, said: “The use of advanced molecular biology is increasingly helping us to investigate artefacts.
“This is a good example of where the past can provide insight to future brewing.
“We look forward to tasting the recreation compared to today’s beers.”