I was delighted that the West Midlands Combined Authority and the Metro Mayor has announce proposals for the Light Rail Transit extensions in our conurbation, in the last few days.
I have always been a strong supporter of this mode of transport for Wolverhampton and the West Midlands, giving that support wherever I could, in a long period of local government service.
My pleasure at reading that the Metro Mayor and the WMCA are supporting a further two extensions in our City of Wolverhampton was pleasantly pleasing.
When the Metro celebrated their 20th Birthday in June 2019 , I released this statement.
I still strongly believe in the comments I made then, and I am remaining hopeful that our City Council will lead a strong campaign to ensure that the route to Wednesfield is progressed quickly, and I underline my further plea for a line to service the home of Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux and the developments in housing, commerce and industry out at the I54 site on the Staffordshire boundary.
Here is the original statement I released on the 3rd June 2019- Its a great transport project,
“Councillor Phil Bateman said “I am delighted Midland Metro has made its 20TH anniversary.
Not only is it a transport project that we need, it is also a very good economic tool. All the housing and the industrial development now clustering around the metro on Line One is a testimony to that. When it was first designed and constructed the line was running through derelict land,empty space and industrial ruin. That changed and is still changing when metro started to operate.
My big hope is that Wolverhampton can get two more extensions. One that reaches to Wednesfield, and points towards Walsall, and one that it serves the new Molineux from the transport Hub in Wolverhampton and stretches out towards the housing estates and industrial developments around Jaguar and the M54 corridor.I am hopeful that the Wolverhampton City Council will recognise that these two schemes would be the right sort of transportation planning for the next 20-30 years.”
