Rail services, new homes and major developments: West Midlands Mayor Richard Parker looks ahead to 2026
Long awaited railway services, new homes and progress on major developments are what people of the West Midlands can expect to see in 2026.
West Midlands Mayor Richard Parker has looked ahead to the coming year and said he was looking forward to a number of significant projects moving forward based around his priorities of transport, housing and jobs.
He also admitted there could be a possible challenge ahead if Reform perform well in the forthcoming elections and take control of local authorities in the region.
He has spoken out publicly in response to statements made publicly by Reform MPs, most recently when Richard Tice called for the scrapping of HS2.
But he added he would work with them if they take control of councils and become members of the West Midlands Combined Authority Board.
The mayor said he wants to deliver things which matter to residents, including a plan to boost ailing high streets across the region.
With the construction complete on five new railway stations in Birmingham and Walsall, they are expected to start serving passengers in the new year while work on the first phase of the Midland Metro extension to Dudley should also be finished.
Mr Parker said: “I’m really pleased with the progress we are making on the Investment Zones and they’ll be getting a lot of focus in 2026.
“We’ve committed £7 million and the City of Wolverhampton Council committed £20 million to kickstart clearance in the Wolverhampton Green Corridor and we are making really good progress in Coventry.
“We are making progress on big investments that will drive advanced manufacturing and the agenda around battery storage and help our transition from fossil fuels. And those will target the creation of tens of thousands of jobs.
“This year, we’ve delivered 3,000 homes and next year, the figure for homes will be 5,000. We can see the difference we’re making on delivery.
“We’ve got the Rosewell Review of transport which is all about giving us advice on the best way to deploy and use those transport funds to support growth.
“There will be a big re-statement on our big transport projects going forward. A real seminal piece of work.”
He added: “I want to make sure what I’m doing has relevance to our communities.
“We know the importance of high streets. I visited LCP based in Pensnett who own shopping centres in our towns and cities.
“The discussion was not just about how they want to make more of their assets, it was really interesting because it tied in with a big agenda of mine for 2026.
“I will be working on it about our high streets, markets and how we increase footfall.
“We will be running a series of events across 2026 about what we will be looking to do to drive more footfall.
“I want to create a mayor’s fund to support investment and transformation and working with partners on what we can do on the public sector side to ensure we use some of our critical mass and our resources in terms of occupying sites and supporting town centre economies.”
In 2025, Mr Parker set up taskforces to bring ‘new thinking’ around the issues of transport, housing and the economy and Mr Parker expects a thread of new ideas to come forward from them.
He also said more work will be done around active travel and ensuring public transport is safe.
He said: “If our public transport systems aren’t safe, is impacts our disadvantaged communities the most as they use our public transport the most.
“We will be saying a lot more about active travel and one of the key initiatives we will be driving forward is around kid’s streets, closing roads outside schools and encourage more walking and cycling and safer space around our schools.”
And progress is expected to be made on major sites covered by a new Mayoral Development Corporation, developed with the aim of giving investors speed, scale and certainty and help bring schemes forward.
It will bring together planning powers, land, funding and delivery under one roof and cut bureaucracy.
Mr Parker said: “We’re doing work to open up investment and planning around the big sites which include Birmingham’s Investment Zone, Digbeth and the Sports Quarter.
“There will be some demonstrable activity on those sites and I think next year, issues around planning and the proprietary work will be at the fore.”
In May 2026, there will be ‘all out’ council elections in Birmingham, Coventry, Sandwell, Solihull and Walsall and, should Reform take control of any of those, the leaders will sit on the Combined Authority board.
Mr Parker said: “If they are elected to some of these places, we will have to work together. We’ve got a sense of mission and purpose here and I will want and expect them to support what we are doing.
“But let’s not hide behind the fact they’ve made comments previously that would damage our regions.
“Nigel Farage was clear what he thought about JLR and the trade deal, he would have sacrificed them.
“They’ve talked about cancelling HS2. HS2 is driving investment and tens of thousands of jobs in this region.
“I have concerns about some of the policies they might take forward. I don’t want them doing anything that will be detrimental to the people or the economy we’re building here in the West Midlands.
“Every council leader sits on the Board is aligned with my priorities. Everything we are doing is about improving the lives of the people who live here.
“Whether that’s through bus franchising, investing in the skills agenda, social and affordable homes and how we are shaping our economy for the future.”
