STATEMENT: West Midlands Combined Authority Bid to the Government’s City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS) fund and Bus Service Improvement Plan fund
Here is my formal response, to Radical and Game-Changing plans confirmed yesterday!
WOLVERHAMPTON, West Midlands – Saturday September 18th, 2021: 09:45am
Kashmire Hawker – Wolverhampton based member of the West Midlands Young Combined Authority (WMYCA), the board’s Co-Portfolio Lead for Transport and an Independent Member of the West Midlands Trains Stakeholder Equality Group, releases the following statement, following the agreement of the West Midlands Combined Authority Board on Friday September 17th, 2021, to bid for funding from the Government’s City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS) fund and Bus Service Improvement Plan fund:
“I warmly and greatly welcome the WMCA’s agreement, to make a formal submission to Government for funding which would transform our region’s transport infrastructure, illustrate the region’s commitment to enhance residents lives and crucially of which continue to respond, to the climate emergency.
With the Department for Transport seemingly at the forefront of the Prime Minister’s pledge to “Levelling Up” the nation; particularly with DfT’s scheduled move to Birmingham due soon, it is only right that the West Midlands asks for its slice of the pie, knowing of the tremendous impact such funding would make to all who live, work and study here.
The need for cleaner and greener modes of transport, are powerfully highlighted in plans to expand our excellent West Midlands Metro, alongside seeking to obtain 200 new and zero-hydrogen buses, more rapid charging points for electric vehicles, transforming several existing rail stations and 16 new cycle routes across our patch; all of which importantly fits within the #WM2041 plan, which seeks WM to go fully carbon-neutral in just 20 years’ time.
This radical and bold thinking, along with the certainty given to West Midlands Trains – through their new 3-year National Rail contract confirmed last Friday which is significant for passengers and of which I fully welcome, makes the future of clean, green and easy to access Transport an exciting one.
I just hope that Government has the same ambitions and I look forward to supporting Transport for West Midlands and the Combined Authority, alongside my Young Combined Authority colleagues in achieving as much – if not all of what has been rightfully set out this week.”
ENDS
