West Midlands Mayor reviews key moments and developments in 2025
West Midlands Mayor Richard Parker hailed key moments and developments which have taken place in the region as he looked back on 2025.
Mr Parker said a lot of groundwork has been laid down which will enable the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) to ‘steamroll’ ahead with major projects.
But he added they hadn’t ‘neglected’ delivery on the ground either with a number of schemes moving forward.
One of the key moments for the mayor was devolved funding from the Government, most notably £2.4 billion for transport schemes across the region.
This enabled funding to be committed to extend the Midland Metro to the new Birmingham City FC stadium and the owners wider £3 billion Sports Quarter development.
This year also saw a Mayoral Development Corporation launched which will bring together planning powers, land, funding and delivery under one roof and cut bureaucracy.
It will incorporate the Sports Quarter, the £4 billion Birmingham Knowledge Quarter, the HS2 station at Curzon Street, the £2 billion Smithfield development, and a major creative industries hub in Digbeth.
In December, it was announced construction work was finally completed on five new railway stations, which are now being prepared for passenger services in the New Year.
The stations feature three at Moseley, Kings Heath and Pineapple Road on the Camp Hill Line with the remaining two in Willenhall and Darlaston.
The Regional Investment Summit was held at Edgbaston Stadium in October and is said to have provided an £800 million boost to the West Midlands.
Mr Parker also launched his ambitious Growth Plan which is aimed at attracting billions to the region and creating 100,000 new jobs over the next decade.
The Mayor’s plan for bus franchising and bringing services back into public control from the current private operator led model was also agreed by the WMCA Board.
Mr Parker said: “We had a fantastic spending review settlement with that £2.5bn for transport.
“That was particularly helpful and has helped us commit the investment we needed to support the Sports Quarter.
“We then had the agreement at the budget for the single settlement and that gives us the certainty of funding for the next three years and allows us to follow through on the big commitments I’ve got around transport, housing and jobs.
“My focus has been on delivery on the ground. Previously, the highest number of homes delivered by this organisation was 600 and we got to 3,000 last year.
“We’ve moved forward on our big three investment zones against a backdrop of supporting JLR. That trade deal with the US protected JLR, protected up to 35,000 jobs across the region.
“We’ve demonstrated we can deliver and that has built confidence with the Government which is important.”
He added he was also pleased with the work carried out to overhaul the WMCA as well as plugging a £120 million deficit in the transport budgets.
Mr Parker said: “This year was really fabric to putting those foundations in place to allow us to steamroll forward over the next year.
“We haven’t sacrificed delivery during the last 12 months but we have positioned ourselves to make sure we can deliver at scale with real purpose and a lot quicker across the remaining time in office before the next election.”
He added: “When I talk about fixing those foundations, it’s not only sorting out the transport budget but also getting a grip of those new stations. That’s been really important.
“It’s important for the folks in the West Midlands who we want to improve the lives and opportunities for so we focused on that.
“It demonstrates to people on the ground we are delivering stuff and it’s important for the board to have confidence and it’s important for our relationship with the Government.
“We’re spending Government’s money, so we’ve got to demonstrate to them they can have confidence in our capability to deliver.”
