A new £100,000-a-year director to chase funding to extend the Midland Metro will be appointed next month after council chiefs approved the release of taxpayers’ cash.
Wolverhampton City Council has agreed to provide office space for the newcomer, who will work under chief executive Richard Carr. The authority will pay £20,000 of the costs of finding and employing the director, with the rest of the funding being shared equally between councils in Sandwell, Dudley and Walsall as well as public transport body Centro.
Councillor Neville Patten, leader of the city council, said at a meeting last night: “I welcome the vision of the Metro and what it should become.
“Many of us will probably be old and retired by the time it all comes together but in the long run it will become very important, and this director will make a real difference.”
The director will lobby the Government for funding to extend the line from Wednesbury to Walsall and Brierley Hill.
The contract will last an initial 12 months, with the post starting next month.
The appointment is expected to be imminent, with all four local authorities believed to have a candidate in mind.
The Department for Transport refused to pay the £400 million needed for the extension after councils in the region refused to introduce congestion charging.
Since then, transport chiefs have decided to go it alone and are spending £2million to look at other ways of getting the funding.
The new director will head up that review and will be expected to come back with renewed hope.
Planning permission for the entire project has been granted by an Act of Parliament, meaning work can get under way immediately as soon as funding is secured.
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