The Current Major Schemes Programme
Details of our Major Scheme proposals, including costs, timings and whether they are fully or provisionally approved are set out in this section.
We illustrate how each Scheme contributes towards the four themes of the Transport Shared Priority (TSP) and to our own LTP objective of 'ensuring that the transport system underpins the economic revitalisation of the West Midlands Metropolitan Area'.
The programme has been refined from our 2003 LTP. It takes account of:
- contribution to the strategy
- priorities identified for the West Midlands by the Secretary of State in June 2003
- the indication by the Secretary of State in June 2003 that up to £1 billion could be available for Major Schemes
- the three themes of our strategy
- Regional Funding Allocations
Initially each Scheme was subject to peer review and prioritised according to its contribution towards the following criteria:
- regional transport priorities
- local objectives
- the Transport Shared Priority
- regeneration
The deliverability of each Scheme was also assessed, in order to prepare a realistic programme. This process led to a robust strategy-generated programme of Major Schemes within the financial constraints set by the Secretary of State for the Provisional LTP.
Regional Prioritisation
Since the submission of the Provisional LTP2, a process of prioritising all Major Schemes in the West Midlands region, including Highways Agency schemes of regional importance, has been undertaken. This is to enable advice from the Regional Assembly and Advantage West Midlands (AWM) to be submitted to the DfT on our priorities, set against the funding levels identified in the Regional Funding Allocation published in July 2005. This provides a firm allocation of £88 million for 2005/06, of £90 million for 2006/07 and £92 million for 2007/08.
Led by a joint working group, the Strategic Transport Implementation Group, comprising of representatives of the Government Office, AWM, and the Regional Assembly, an agreed methodology for identifying priorities has been developed This has been an inclusive process, ensuring that elected Members have been involved, as well as representatives of key stakeholders.
The outcome has been an agreed list of priorities that have been developed into a deliverable programme within the funding constraints set by the Regional Funding Allocations. However, the final advice to the DfT will be submitted after the approval process for the LTP2 has commenced. Thus the LTP2 programme can only be considered to be provisional, pending any changes agreed before the advice is submitted. These changes may arise as a consequence of aligning the programmes for transport, economic development and housing.
Recognising that the Regional Funding Allocations are not sufficient to fund our full aspirations, we have included some proposals, particularly extensions to the Metro network that will need to seek alternative additional funding. The programme still reflects the 2003 commitment made by the Secretary of State to provide up to £1 billion in funding for capital schemes and we will seek to work with the DfT to identify how this may be accessed.
Walking and Cycling
One particular difference from our 2003 programme is that we no longer include Major Scheme proposals for walking and cycling. This reflects advice from the DfT that such schemes would be unlikely to meet the eligibility criteria for Major Scheme funding. This is disappointing, but we will seek to continue the development of our networks from within our Integrated Transport (IT) block and in association with other proposals. This is an area where we will actively seek additional funding from non LTP sources.
Western Orbital Routes
The other main difference is that schemes associated with the previously proposed Western Orbital Route have now been dropped, following the Secretary of State's decision not to support the proposals. In their place, proposals to improve access from the Black Country to the existing motorway network have been introduced.