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Written question asked by Preet Kaur Gill (Labour) on Friday, 5 January 2024, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 9 January 2024. It was answered by Guy Opperman (Conservative) on Monday, 15 January 2024 on behalf of the Department for Transport.

Roads: Birmingham

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has made a recent assessment of the viability of alternative schemes to the Highways PFI contract for Birmingham.

Answer

The Department has assessed the viability of a range of alternative schemes to the Birmingham PFI contract. Following this, we have committed to continue Birmingham’s existing funding at approximately £50m for 2024/5. In subsequent years, Birmingham would be allocated formula funding in the same way as other local highways authorities across the country, as part of the highways maintenance block grant. This will be paid via the West Midlands Combined Authority in the usual way.

The Department will increase the additional funding going to the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) under the Network North Roads Resurfacing fund to take account of the fact that the allocations announced in November 2023 did not include an amount for Birmingham. WMCA is also benefiting from over £1 billion of City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS) funding up to 2026/27, and set to benefit from indicative CRSTS2 funding of over £2.6 billion between 2027/28 and 2031/32.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
8087
Session
2023-24
Transferred
Yes
Subjects
Contracts Capital investment Birmingham Private finance initiative Roads
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk