Express & Star

Co-operation likely to be crucial in making newly funded transport schemes work

News that the Midlands is to get £2 billion in extra funding for transport projects will inevitably be welcomed. But then the questions come about where it will be spent.

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A Class 730, one of the trains being introduced by West Midlands Railway. Photo: West Midlands Trains

We know the funds, diverted from the aborted HS2 northern leg, will be handed to local authorities to spend on projects in their own areas. And it is our understanding this time the money will go to shire counties and non-metropolitan districts, rather than the big cities which received a £2.7 billion boost in October.

This means that Staffordshire, Shropshire and North Worcestershire are likely to be among the beneficiaries this time around. But, by their very nature, transport projects tend to be strategic in their scale, and often involve crossing local authority boundaries.