In Northfield we have been incredibly successful in delivering levelling up. In October the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, visited the iconic Longbridge site along with the Mayor of the West Midlands to see the ongoing progress in regenerating the site. I was delighted to welcome the Secretary of State to Longbridge and show him just how far this area has come since it was devastated in 2005 by the collapse of MG Rover. Now, thanks to Conservative action we are seeing thousands of new jobs and hundreds of homes are set to be created as part of the latest phase of the regeneration project in Longbridge. This is a real success story for us in Northfield and something I am very proud of.
But to fully unlock that growth we need the other infrastructure to grow. This is why I am calling for the government to now back plans for the Midlands Rail Hub to help us fully deliver the potential of the massive redevelopment in our area. The Midlands Rail Hub is the region’s biggest and most ambitious rail improvement scheme - a £900m - £1.5bn blueprint for faster, better and more frequent connections across the Midlands.
For Northfield this means Kings Norton should receive rail frequency upgrades and critically see two new platforms for and Longbridge and Northfield which would see two new trains every hour. This means the cross-city line of Birmingham will turn into a London style rail line with trains coming every nine minutes and deliver our promise of a London-style transport network in the Midlands with a turn up and go’ service – where you won’t need to check the timetable before you leave home.
If you’ve been to Kings Norton Station in recent years, you’ll know that the middle platforms have long since been disused, and the only inhabitants recently have been the bushes. Our scheme brings the station back to life and transforms it from a two platform station into a four platform junction station, facilitating interchange between the two routes from here to Birmingham – one via University and one via Kings Heath and Moseley.
I believe improving connections for residents in and around Kings Norton will help residents, businesses and commuters and will help further unlock the economic growth and regeneration we have been able to secure for Northfield in the last few years.
What is odd about this project is Local MPs are fully behind it, every council is, Midlands Connect the transport body support it as, critically does Andy Street who described it as ‘game-changing’ and he’s right.
Passenger rail usage in the Midlands is growing faster than anywhere else in the UK but without investment the region's rail network can't keep pace with this record demand and many services remain slow and infrequent. Historically turning rail projects from concept to reality has been a long and frustrating process. We’re keen to break this cycle by securing the future of this project now and planning for its delivery.
The scheme will add more than 14 million more seats on the rail network each year and provide faster, more frequent, or new rail links for over 30 locations including: Birmingham, Bromsgrove, Nuneaton, Worcester, Hereford, Cardiff, Bristol, Cheltenham and Leicester. It will also bring 1.6 million more people to within an hour of the region’s biggest towns and cities by public transport.
Another key priority has been to improve disabled access for Longbridge Station. At the site of the former beating heart of West Midlands manufacturing we cannot forget about those who need more help with public transport.
But no attempt at levelling up would be complete without ensuring our bus services our maintained. We all know the biggest problem facing the bus service; passengers numbers fell during COVID and have not completely recovered. Last year I led a campaign to protect the services of the 144 bus that goes through my constituency and these services do need the support of Government or the people who rely on them more than others will lose them.
Likewise I have been leading the campaign to protect free parking at the Lickey Hills, a treasured site for all Brummies, and one of the key arguments for not charging for car parking is the lack of public transport to the area. Another successful campaign was to remove the short lived bus lane of the A38 Bristol Road – an expensive and deeply unpopular folly by the Council introduced without consultation and quickly removed at great expense – where I campaigned to protect car drivers going through my constituency.
So whilst we fight for the high visibility developments at Kings Norton station we must not forget the bus users, car drivers, parking costs and everything else that makes up the picture of transport.
All in all these projects will help grow our economy, increase capacity, cut overcrowding and increase the investment prospect of places like Longbridge, Northfield and Kings Norton for investment as businesses look at it as a deeply attractive place to location. It will also spread the growth from the thriving City Centre out to our suburbs. That for me, is the definition of a win-win. Let’s get it done!
