The West Midlands today makes its case to Government for more than £1 billion of vital funding for major transport schemes to tackle congestion and boost public transport.

All seven Metropolitan Authorities and the West Midlands Passenger Transport Authority (Centro-PTA) are jointly submitting the final version of the West Midlands’ Local Transport Plan (LTP) to the DfT. In addition to existing targets to tackle congestion, ambitious new transport targets have also been announced to speed up the time it takes to get to hospitals and doctors’ surgeries, attend job interviews and get children to school.

"This is an ambitious package for improvements across the network and real people-focused targets for all partners to deliver," says Centro-PTA chairman Cllr Gary Clarke.

The new LTP sets out plans for a step-change in the Metropolitan transport system, and the investment needed to deliver this. Major projects include:

• An expansion of the Midland Metro tram system from Wednesbury to Brierley Hill, via Dudley, and from Snow Hill to Five Ways in central Birmingham
  
• The £500 million redevelopment of Birmingham New Street Station
  
• A 261 mile (419km) network of Red Routes to help traffic flow more freely and increase road capacity by 10 per cent. Red Routes tackle inconsiderate parking and control parking and loading to protect local traders.

The Final LTP comes at a key time for transport investment in the region and follows a number of recent successes. The Government has just awarded £16.62m to fund The Walsall Town Centre package, which will increase capacity on the ring road and remove through traffic from the town centre. The area will also benefit from the £4.1 million Coleshill Transport Interchange. The latest transport success for the region is the high-tech £26.6m Urban Traffic Control (UTC) scheme – the largest of its kind in the UK – which won initial Government approval on 24th March.

West Midlands transport champion Cllr Roger Lawrence said: “The Local Transport Plan sets out a bold vision for transport in the West Midlands which will improve quality of life and boost competitiveness. It includes major new schemes such as Metro extension and New Street Station that will deliver improved capacity and tackle congestion, and innovative initiatives to make the most of our road network. By delivering this plan we can also meet new targets for improving transport to key services like hospitals, workplaces and schools, and make a real difference to people.”

The West Midlands LTP includes the following pledges:

• To increase by 50 per cent the number of people who can reach a major NHS hospital by accessible public transport within half an hour, over the next five years.

Currently more than two million people out of the region’s population of 2.6 million (78%) are unable to get to our major hospitals this readily. The Plan outlines a bus improvement programme and closer partnership with bus operators as the key to bringing good transport links to poorly served areas.

• To double the number of people using initiatives that offer free transport to attend job interviews.

This target will be met by working with Job Centre Plus to expand the award-winning “WorkWise” initiative that currently operates out of job centres in Sparkhill (Birmingham), Chelmsley Wood (Solihull) and a “Steps to Work” office in Bloxwich (Walsall). A similar project operates in Wolverhampton, run by JobCentre Plus.

For every school in the West Midlands to have its own travel plan within five years. The travel plan is a written document setting out practical measures for reducing the number of car trips made to school and for improving safety on the school journey e.g. ‘Walking buses’, cycle training and road safety information.

Other targets within the Final LTP include:

• Improving bus punctuality so that 83 per cent of buses arrive no more than five minutes late by 2010/11. To be achieved by Bus Showcase and Red Routes.
  
• Increasing light rail use from 5.1 million trips per year in 2003/4 to 5.8 million in 2010/11;
  
• Improving personal safety on public transport by 10 per cent over the next five years.