£50m Rail Improvements around HS2 Station unveiled in Budget

The government will provide £50m to develop proposals for transport improvements around the High Speed 2 Birmingham Interchange Station. This, it says, will help support regeneration at Arden Cross in Solihull. It will also invest £59m towards the construction of five new stations in the West Midlands, cutting journey times from Willenhall, Darlaston and south-west Birmingham into the city centre

The Government is also set to commission a new National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) Towns and Regeneration Study, which will consider will consider how to maximise the benefits of infrastructure policy and investment for towns in England, the Chancellor announced in his Budget documents.

Meanwhile, the government will invest £18.8m in local cultural infrastructure projects in Carlisle, Hartlepool, Wakefield and Yeovil to boost the vibrant cultural life of these towns and cities.

The government will provide £135m to accelerate the start of construction on the A66 Trans-Pennine upgrade to 2024. This builds on the Spending Review 2020 announcement that the construction phase will be halved from 10 to five years as part of Project Speed.

Last year’s Budget committed the government to invest £4.2bn in intra-city transport settlements from 2022-23, through five-year consolidated funding settlements for eight city regions, including Greater Manchester, Liverpool City Region, West Midlands, West Yorkshire, Sheffield City Region, West of England and Tees Valley, subject to the creation of appropriate governance arrangements to agree and deliver funding.

This year’s Budget has taken the first step towards implementing that commitment – confirming capacity funding in 2021-22 to support those city regions with “appropriate governance arrangements” already in place to begin preparations for settlements.

This, says the Government, will enable them to develop integrated investment-ready transport plans that will deliver on local priorities such as tackling congestion and driving productivity.

This will provide £8.6m to Greater Manchester; £5.6m to Liverpool City Region; £5.2m to Sheffield City Region; £3.5m to Tees Valley; £4.1m to West of England, £8.9m to West Midlands and £7.4 million to West Yorkshire.