Metro Mayor Dan Norris has welcomed the news that the West of England will receive a bumper injection of cash to improve local transport.
The Chancellor is set to announce in next Wednesday’s Budget that just over half a billion pounds will be invested in the region’s transport infrastructure – around £560 per person.
This is the highest investment per head of population in the whole country and Mr Norris, who led the charge to win the cash, today said he was “delighted”.
“This transport money is only available to areas with Metro Mayors – and we’ve come out on top. This is a big success for our great region. It’s an important vote of confidence in the West of England.
“Everyone locally knows why we need the cash – it’s to tackle traffic jams and the congestion holding us back. Currently only one in 11 commutes are made by public transport. This investment will also help us as we strive to meet our ambitious net zero targets by 2030.”
The money secured is for the short to medium term. It will predominately be spent on improving the reliability of buses by creating more bus lanes and priority routes.
Mr Norris continued: “A big thank you to everyone involved in making this happen including the unitary authority leaders for agreeing to back a strategic bid with local contributions, and to our local civil servants on doing the essential legwork to make this happen.
“Now we must deliver. If we show the government we can get on with the job they will trust us with more devolution, more powers, resources and cash – so let’s make it work.”
The City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement was only available to certain areas with a Metro Mayor.
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