Birmingham City Council has reaffirmed its commitment to expansion of the Midland Metro and voted for work to proceed on a route through city centre streets from Snow Hill to Five Ways and Edgbaston.

The formal decision at a Cabinet meeting on Monday (24 October) follows an announcement by council leader Mike Whitby at a press conference earlier.

It will allow Centro to press on with its plans that had already cleared the significant hurdles of securing provisional Government funding and getting Secretary of State approval following a public inquiry.

Following the press conference, Cllr Gary Clarke, chairman of the Passenger Transport Authority, which sets policy for Centro said:

“We believe the extension of the Midland Metro from Snow Hill to Five Ways will bring huge benefits to the city and make great strides towards giving Birmingham the world-class public transport system the city needs and deserves.

“Our task now is to work with the city council and other partners to submit the outline business case to the Government as soon as possible.  We already have provisional funding approval and the powers to build the extension, which were granted by the Secretary of State following a public inquiry last year.”

The 3.2km tramway through the centre of Birmingham would enable people to journey from Snow Hill to Hagley Road in just 13 minutes.  There would be ten, easy-access stops at street level and the route would serve the main shopping and business areas, as well as provide easy interchange with other forms of public transport.

The first Midland Metro line opened six years ago.  It now carries a growing number of passengers and has the enviable record of being the region’s most reliable public transport system – but it was always envisaged as part of a much wider and integrated network.  Another route from Wednesbury, through Dudley, to the Merry Hill Centre was approved six months ago following a similar public inquiry process to that for Birmingham city centre.

The next step will be to submit an outline business case to Government to confirm funding for both Metro phase one extensions.  This could still be on target for completion by the end of the year.  It envisages construction work to start in 2008 with the first trams running by 2011.

The implications of the Birmingham City Council decision for future phases of Metro expansion will be considered by the Passenger Transport Authority at its next meeting on Monday 31 October.