Midlands Connect welcomes Chancellor’s support

Midlands Connect, the partnership tasked with developing a transport blueprint to unlock economic growth across the region, has welcomed the call by Chancellor George Osborne for it to have formal legal status by 2018.

In his speech to the House of Commons Osborne said he wanted Midlands Connect to be put on a statutory footing within two years as a sub-national transport body.

Doing so would give Midlands Connect statutory powers to develop a transport strategy with other public bodies such as Highways England and Network Rail.

Whilst the Budget did not see any cash awarded to Midlands Connect, the group said it was still very happy with Mr Osborne’s call.

Andrew Cleaves, chair of the Midlands Connect steering group, said: “This announcement in the Budget was a vote of confidence by the Chancellor in what we are doing and we welcome that support.

“Last year we received £5 million in the budget, with which we are working to establish Midlands Connect. This is going well and when we are in a position to move further forward we will make our case to receive a similar level of funding to that of other similar bodies.

“In the meantime our chairman Sir John Peace will continue to work with leaders in the Midlands and the Department for Transport to identify further opportunities and ways to strengthen the Midlands.”

Midlands Connect is a collaboration of 28 local authorities and Local Enterprise Partnerships from across the East and West Midlands aiming for better transport links.
It is working with Network Rail, Highways England, HS2 ltd and the Department for Transport as they develop the strategy.

The partnership is working to pinpoint road and rail schemes that can stimulate growth for the region’s economy and help power the Government’s vision of a ‘Midlands Engine for Growth’.