The Chamberlain News

£357m Greater Birmingham growth fund award is huge ‘vote of confidence’ for region

Greater Birmingham will receive £357 million from the Government’s Local Growth Fund enabling a variety of high-profile regeneration schemes to go ahead, it was announced today.

Key projects to be financed include extensions to the Midland Metro tram system and improved pedestrian links between New Street and Moor Street stations in Birmingham.

The money will also deliver rapid transit bus routes, an advanced manufacturing hub and a Centre of Excellence for advanced technologies at Birmingham Metropolitan College, and infrastructure improvements to open up development sites.

The Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership will get about three-quarters of the £508 million it bid for over the next five years. The figure is the largest Growth Fund award for any of the country’s 39 LEPs.

GBSLEP chair Andy Street said the award would help deliver a long-term ambition to secure the position of Greater Birmingham as the pre-eminent economy outside of London.

In total, 34 projects have been approved with £63.4 million available for the financial year 2015-16 to get schemes started quickly.

GBSLEP say the Growth Deal will eventually provide up to 19,000 jobs, deliver 6,000 new homes and help 7,600 people to improve their skills.

The investment will also help open a wider package of investment worth £1.9 billion to improve transport networks, unlock economic sites and boost skills provision across the LEP area.

GBSLEP will invest nearly £60 million in projects related to HS2 and, from the Local Growth Fund, the Government will invest a further £91.8 million.

These projects – including station improvements between New Street and Moor Street, extensions to the Midland Metro and a bus rapid transit scheme to the west of the city – will improve connectivity to the new Birmingham Curzon station.

Projects funded through the Growth Deal include:

– Three extensions to the Midland Metro.
– A Life Sciences Campus in Selly Oak and the development of an academy for the sector at Bourneville College.
– A 20-hectare Advanced Manufacturing Hub near M6 Junction 6.
– A Centre of Excellence for advanced technologies at Birmingham Metropolitan College and an Aviation Engineering Training Centre in Solihull.
– A growth and regeneration programme to unlock key economic sites in East Staffordshire.
– A road/rail freight interchange facility in Cannock.
– A link road to improve access to South Kidderminster Enterprise Park.
– A hub to support up to 15,000 firms through a world-class business support system.

The Government’s growth fund money will unlock an additional £138.5 million of investment from local partners and £111.5 million in contributions from the private sector.

Andy Street, GBSLEP chair, said: “This Growth Deal is a clear vote of confidence in the economic renaissance of Greater Birmingham and a sign that Government has faith in our ability to deliver.

“We have been able to secure funding for much needed projects, a carefully chosen mix of shovel-ready schemes we can kick on with almost immediately and support for longer-term projects.

“Perhaps more importantly we have won support for our long-term vision to secure the position of our city region as the pre-eminent economy outside London.

“The outcome is a tribute to the teamwork which has gone into these proposals. Now we have to deliver. Our focus is now on delivering.”

Sir Albert Bore, Leader of Birmingham City Council, said: “This is great news for Birmingham.

“The announcements in this Growth Deal will help kick-start a range of major projects that will support the delivery of an improved transport system for the city, particularly with some further Metro extensions, and the creation of new jobs for local people.

“Securing the funding will enable the city to lever in significant additional resources to drive our local growth agenda and boost development activity.”

Growth Deal projects in full:

South Kidderminster Enterprise Park, Hoobrook Link Road (Wyre Forest)
Overall value: £9m Local Growth Fund: £3m
Lead partner: Wyre Forest District Council
Outputs: 532 jobs and 170 homes
This project will enable the completion of phase two of Hoobrook Link Road which connects the A451 Stourport Road to the A449 Worcester Road. The road unlocks the 24 hectare former British Sugar Site (known as Silverwoods) and will transform the accessibility to and within South Kidderminster Enterprise Park.

Ashted Circus (Birmingham)
Overall value: £6.6m Local Growth Fund: £4.07m
Lead partner: Birmingham City Council.
Ashted Circus forms a key junction on A4540 Birmingham Ring Road, providing connections to industrial areas to the northeast and Birmingham city centre to the south-west. The junction forms an access point for Aston University, Eastside and the planned Curzon Street HS2 station. This project will create left-turn slip lanes on both Dartmouth Middleway approaches at Ashted Circus.

Journey Time Reliability Improvements to Growth (Birmingham and Solihull)
Overall value: £2.69m Local Growth Fund: £2.42m
Lead partner: Centro
Outputs: 198 jobs
A a package of small highway measures to improve journey reliability. In total there are seven projects in Birmingham and a further 11 in Solihull. These improvements will help to unlock economic growth by linking to Birmingham City Centre Enterprise Zone and UK Central.

Unblocking Small Housing Sites (LEP wide)
Overall value: £6m Local Growth Fund: £6m
Outputs: 1,300 homes.

A programme to support the acceleration of small housing sites across Greater Birmingham.
Mid-Cannock road/rail freight interchange (Cannock)
Overall value: £16.75m Local Growth Fund: £1.3m
Lead partner: Cannock Chase District Council
Outputs: 50 jobs.
This project will create a new road-rail interchange facility with rail sidings and container handling cranes on the Chase Line and significantly decrease the number of HGV using the adjacent strategic road network.

Unlocking Birmingham’s Sustainable Urban Extension (Birmingham)
Overall value: £11.11m Local Growth Fund: £5m
Lead partner: Birmingham City Council
Outputs: 5,000 jobs 3,000 homes.

The Unlocking Birmingham Sustainable Urban Extension (SUE) package includes works at two locations adjacent to the proposed Green Belt SUE. These involve improvements to an existing five-arm roundabout and a new access junction for the developments.

These schemes will unlock and support accelerated economic growth at two major development sites east of Sutton Coldfield.

University Station Interchange (Birmingham)
Overall value: £3.09m Local Growth Fund: £2.59m
Lead partner: Centro
This project will deliver a package of improvements to University Station – which currently suffers significant overcrowding – to support growth at the University of Birmingham.
This scheme links strongly to the development of the Life Sciences Campus.

Battery Way Extension (Tyseley, Birmingham)
Overall value: £1.52m Local Growth Fund: £1.26m
Lead partner: Birmingham City Council
Outputs: 800 jobs
Around 4.5 miles south-east of Birmingham city centre off the A41 Warwick Road, Battery Way is currently a cul-de-sac constructed about ten years ago to give improved access to the former Lucas Industries (later Yuasa Batteries) factory.
This project will see the creation of a new 700m road between Battery Way and Reddings Lane with the ultimate effect of unlock a redundant industrial estate. It will also act as a catalyst for the regeneration of the wider Tyseley and Greet areas, which are key employment areas for the south-east of the city with more than 15,000 people employed on sites based around the A41 Warwick Road.

Selly Oak New Road Phase 1b (Selly Oak, Birmingham)
Overall value: £6.13m Local Growth Fund: £3.63m
Lead partner: Birmingham City Council
Outputs: 2,700 jobs
Highway improvements to Bristol Road, Harborne Lane and Chapel Lane will remove a congestion hotspot on the A38, fully realising the benefits of phases 1a and 2 of the Selly Ok New Road.
Crucially, it will unlock the Selly Oak Triangle site for redevelopment and support the Life Sciences Campus development, the proposed Biomedical Innovation Hub and a major new supermarket.

A34 Corridor – Perry Barr (Birmingham)
Overall value: £6.1m Local Growth Fund: £3.5m
Lead partner: Birmingham City Council
Outputs: 1,150 jobs, 300 homes
A package of five measures relating to land acquisitions, highway works at Birchfield Roundabout, public realm enhancements, gap funding for new development and bus interchange improvements at One Stop Shopping Centre.
Birmingham City University will be vacating the majority of the Perry Barr teaching campus in September 2015. The redevelopment of the site will act as a catalyst for wider development.

Iron Lane (Birmingham)
Total value: £9.5m Local Growth Fund: £5m
Lead partner: Birmingham City Council
Outputs: 1,000 homes
The Iron Lane/Flaxley Road/Station Road junction in Stechford is a major junction on a key section of the A4040 Outer Ring Road, effectively connecting east Birmingham with the M6 and major employment sites.
This project involves will increase junction capacity and reduce congestion. Dedicated pedestrian/cycle-crossing facilities will be provided to enhance ‘active travel’ and new street lighting.

Growth and Regeneration Programme (East Staffordshire)
Total value: £5.7m Local Growth Fund: £1.5m
Lead partner: East Staffordshire Borough Council
Outputs: 707 jobs, 306 homes.
Brings forward the development of three brownfield sites.

Snow Hill Station: Phase 1 (Birmingham)
Total value: £9.99m Local Growth Fund: £4.66m
Lead partner: Centro
Delivery of an efficient transport interchange, increased public transport usage and major opportunities for public realm improvements at one of the city’s key railway stations. The project will also deliver economic benefits to the wider Snow Hill district.

Longbridge Connectivity Scheme (Birmingham)
Overall value: £8.09m Local Growth Fund: £4.86m
Lead partner: Centro
Outputs: 3,864 jobs and 1,089 homes
A package of connectivity improvements in and around Longbridge, including an upgrade of the railway station and the bus interchange.  The Park & Ride facility will be extended and there will be a programme of highway improvements.

Birmingham Cycle Revolution Phase 2 (Birmingham)
Total value: £8m Local Growth Fund: £6m
Lead partner: Birmingham City Council
Will provide 99.5km of extensions and improvements to cycle routes across Birmingham.

Tame Valley Viaduct – Phase 3 (Birmingham)
Total value: £82.01m Local Growth Fund: £72.1m (provisional allocation)
Lead partner: Birmingham City Council
The A38 (M) Thame Valley Viaduct provides a critical link between the city centre and the M6 via Spaghetti Junction. The load carrying capacity of the viaduct has become tested and requires intervention to maintain the connectivity to external markets.

A457 Dudley Road (Birmingham)
Total value: £30m Local Growth Fund: £22.4m (provisional allocation)
Lead partner: Birmingham City Council
This section of the Dudley Road corridor is subject to significant delays for road users and unreliable journey times. This project will deliver improvements in capacity, accessibility and safety and reduce congestion through a comprehensive package of junction improvement, road widening to a dual carriageway and making enhancements to pedestrian and cycling facilities.

A45 Rapid Transit City-Airport (Birmingham & Solihull)
Total value: £50m Local Growth Fund: £35m (provisional allocation)
Lead partner: Centro
A 16.5km SPRINT rapid transit scheme from Birmingham City Centre along the A45 to Birmingham International Station and HS2 Interchange. This will deliver a major upgrade to public transport in this corridor, linking Birmingham city centre, residential areas of East Birmingham and key transport and economic sites.
Maximising the benefits of HS2 (7 projects plus one subject to conditi