Metro gets £30m to extend into the city

Plans to spend more than £30 million to extend the Midland Metro into Wolverhampton city centre were today given government funding as part of a series of improvements to transport in the region between now and 2014.

Another £25m is set to be given towards a £70m scheme to link up the Metro stop at Snow Hill in Birmingham with New Street. The funding is part of a series of cash pledges by the Government today.

These include the rebuilding of New Street Station and the creation of red routes throughout the region. More than £26m will also go on building an underpass for West Bromwich's congested A41 Expressway.

The proposals for improvements to transport in the West Midlands were submitted to the Government in February.

They set out the region's transport priorities over the next 10 years.

The plans will only be approved if their business cases are accepted and transport chiefs get all the planning permission they need but today's announcement means the funding is available to them.

It was in May that transport authority Centro announced its plans for the £30m extension of the Metro in Wolverhampton. It is a far more modest scheme than the £284m plans to extend the tram from Wednesbury to Brierley Hill, which still has no government backing despite planning permission having been in place for four years.

Centro chief executive Geoff Inskip said: "This is very good news for the region. We're delighted the Government has endorsed the schemes that the West Midlands felt were the right ones to not only improve the region's transport system but also help its regeneration in terms of jobs and housing.

"The Government's backing shows that the region is on the right track."

In Wolverhampton, trams will travel on a single track loop around the city centre, starting at the existing stop at St Georges, then running to the new bus and rail interchange before rejoining the existing Line One outside Wolverhampton Crown Court.

A proposed route, currently out to consultation, could go along Princess Street, Lichfield Street and Pipers Row.

It will also serve the planned Wolverhampton Transport Interchange and a spur is proposed from the junction of Lichfield Street and Pipers Row to the rail station.

The Government has also given backing for a fleet of up to 25 new, longer trams.

The Birmingham Metro scheme proposes a route running from the Snow Hill terminus and terminating on Stephenson Street.