As Mayor of the West Midlands, it’s my job to ensure that no areas are left behind when it comes to investment – a kind of internal ‘levelling up’. Improving transport is a powerful tool in achieving this aim, by connecting communities together, injecting investment and giving residents access to opportunities and jobs.

Digbeth, the spiritual home of Birmingham’s Irish community, is benefitting from our transport revolution with work on the Metro line.

This month saw the allocation of Government CRSTS funding (City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements), heralding huge investment in local transport networks across the UK.

I want to use this column to explain how this will continue to drive levelling up in the West Midlands, and how it will help us achieve our climate goals.

Over the next five years, £1.05billion of CRSTS funding will be spent in the West Midlands, a figure which rises to £1.3billion with local top-ups.

The first four major projects have already been identified.

£24 million will be used to seek sites for, plan and deliver a network of 10 electric vehicle charging stations across the region. £43 million will extend the West Midlands Metro depot at Wednesbury to service the region’s growing tram fleet and network – including the extension to Dudley in 2024.

£17 million will be spent on upgrading the Metro power supply on the Wolverhampton to Birmingham line, for the first time since it opened 22 years ago, while £56 million will deliver phase two of our Sprint bus routes.

These will be just the first schemes to go ahead from an expansive transport strategy that includes a Very Light Rail System in Coventry, the capping of ticket prices, reopened railway stations and new gateways in places like Sutton Coldfield.

This latest money links in with existing plans which target specific parts of our network, such as buses.

Here in the West Midlands, before COVID struck the bus was by far the most used form of transport, with 267 million journeys a year compared to 50 million for rail and about 7 million on the region’s Metro tram system. In fact, we were one of the few places in the country where bus use was rising.

Our Bus Service Improvement Plan allows us to access a share of the new £3 billion transformational Government funding, improving services, keeping fares low and backing pioneering ideas such as our ‘bus on demand’ scheme, which has proven such a success in supporting more rural communities.

Improved public transport will pay a crucial part in our climate change ambitions, persuading people to get out of their cars. We are also benefitting from the Government’s Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas fund (ZEBRA) to the tune of £30 million, allowing us to buy 124 hydrogen-fuelled electric buses.

Hydrogen buses consume four times less fuel compared to diesel buses and cover 300 miles on a single tank, emitting only water vapour, meaning no carbon dioxide or other harmful gases are being pumped into the air.

Birmingham City Council has already invested in 20 of these vehicles, while Coventry is set to become one of only two places in the UK to get an entirely electric bus fleet, which is fitting for a city that has been the epicentre of transport innovation for generations.

This isn’t just about spending public money, though. National Express, our leading service provider, has worked hard to cut fares while also investing massively in its fleet - with 350 impressive ‘platinum’ buses now serving the conurbation.

And underscoring all of this development is a commitment to encourage active travel, persuading our residents to take the healthy option whenever possible and get about under their own steam. At least £250 million of the investments planned for the CRSTS cash will go to projects designed to also enable cycling or walking.

This is a region that for decades had failed to attract its fair share of investment. That has changed. The year before I took office, we spent £38 million. This year, we are spending £403million.

Levelling up aims to create a more balanced nation, ensuring investment and opportunity reaches all communities. In the West Midlands we are proving that transport investment can provide a powerful vehicle to deliver this important mission.

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