Contribution
It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mr Betts. I congratulate the right hon. Member for Aldridge-Brownhills (Wendy Morton) on securing this debate about the future of Aldridge train station. I also congratulate the hon. Members for Strangford (Jim Shannon) and for Wokingham (Clive Jones), who used the opportunity to raise important issues pertinent to their constituencies. I know that the hon. Member for Wokingham would like my thoughts about extra car parking spaces at Twyford station; I regret that I shall have to ask my colleagues in the Department and perhaps my officials to write to him about that, as I had not prepared notes on Twyford for today's debate.
I share the right hon. Lady’s enthusiasm for the delivery of new rail infrastructure enhancements such as a new station at Aldridge, and I recognise the wide array of transformative benefits that they can bring. Railways can create jobs, spur economic growth, promote decarbonisation via a modal shift from road to rail, and generally enhance people's quality of life by helping them to get easily from A to B. The magnificent new University station in Birmingham, which opened at the start of the year, has already facilitated millions of journeys and is a shining example of how infrastructure can transform lives and stimulate growth. That is backed by early passenger survey results, which show that nearly 90% of passengers rate the new station as “good” or “excellent”, and nearly 20% would have taken their journey by car if the new station was not there. I am sure she agrees that those are worthy goals, and she is right to advocate for the delivery of similar schemes in her constituency that can unlock such benefits.
I completely understand the right hon. Lady’s vision for passenger train services serving her constituency for the first time in a long time. However, it is in that spirit of wanting to complete transformative transport enhancements that difficult decisions have been made. As she knows, in 2022 the Conservative Government allocated £1.05 billion of city region sustainable transport settlement funding to the West Midlands combined authority, or the WMCA. The money was devolved to the WMCA, led by then metro mayor Andy Street, to spend on its local transport priorities. The WMCA set out its priorities for a programme of investment, which the Department for Transport supported and which included an allocation of £30 million towards delivery of a new railway station at Aldridge.
Time passed, and in July 2024 the West Midlands combined authority presented a paper to the Department outlining cost pressures across its portfolio of projects. As the right hon. Member knows, there has been significant inflation since 2022, and it is not unique to the West Midlands combined authority that cost pressures have arisen in the delivery of infrastructure projects. The cost gap presented a material risk that schemes already in construction would be left unfinished. The combined authority proposed reallocating funding that was allocated but not ringfenced from schemes not in construction, including Aldridge railway station, to those in delivery to ensure that they were completed.
I am happy to share with the right hon. Member which schemes have been prioritised. The schemes that have been assisted with the funding, reallocated as she described, include Rail Package 2, which is delivering three new stations—Moseley, Kings Heath and Pineapple Road—on the Camp Hill line between Kings Norton and Birmingham New Street; the Wednesbury metro depot; certain sections of the Sprint phase two priority bus corridor; the Dudley Interchange, which is a new bus station at Dudley; and the Wednesbury to Brierley Hill metro extension and a further extension on to Merry Hill. Also included is the Birmingham Eastside metro extension, which serves Digbeth and will serve the HS2 Curzon Street station.
A number of other programmes have been deferred as a result of those schemes needing to be prioritised. I can assure the right hon. Lady that while improving bus services is an important issue, including in the West Midlands, the funds are not being redirected and used for the purpose that she suggests might be the case.
The West Midlands combined authority proposed retaining £3.6 million to complete important ongoing design and business case development work for Aldridge station. As the right hon. Lady knows, projects need to go through a process to secure final funding and move to delivery. At present, work is being done using that development funding to produce an outline business case for Aldridge railway station; then, a final business case will be needed. In any case, these are crucial steps to securing a decision to deliver. Work can still continue with that important development funding.