Tram plan on right track

BYRNE BELIEVES DECADE OF CAMPAIGNING FOR NEW TRANSPORT ROUTE TO EAST OF CITY AND SOLIHULL CAN FINALLY REAP REWARD

- JANE HAYNES

MP Liam Byrne could have been excused from growing jaded over the last decade or so from making and re-making the case for a tram line out of Birmingham east through his constituency, one of the most deprived in the country.

But he never stopped banging on about it, convinced it was the key to unlocking jobs and opportunity for thousands of residents who needed to catch a break.

"It would be revolutionary," he said, "a real game changer for this area."

He's now among the collective of local politicians and multi-million pound investors pressing senior government ministers to back a new vision for the Metro tram route, connecting Birmingham city centre out to Bordesley Green, the Blues' proposed new Sports Quarter and stadium, and on to Heartlands Hospital, the NEC, Birmingham Airport and Arden Cross.

As revealed by the Birmingham Mail, a proposal has been put together to finally lay the line from Curzon Street, the main HS2 terminal currently being built in the city centre, via the Digbeth extension of the Metro and then on to north Solihull, after weeks of high-level 6 negotiations.

Ministers including Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander have been personally lobbied by West Midlands Mayor Richard Parker to back the proposal and ideally put some funds behind it as a vital kick-start.

Parker has also brokered introductions to senior ministers for Tom Wagner, from Birmingham City's billionaire owners Knighthead Capital, in the hope that his pledge of a £2.9 billion investment into the area will be the catalyst to get things moving at pace.