We recently began a piece of work analysing the economic impact of forthcoming transport schemes in the West Midlands (PDF, 1.9MB).
Our work has initially focussed on analysing the business plans for four of the nine regional transport priorities and has fed into the West Midlands Regional Transport Priorities Action Plan (PDF, 1MB), which was launched by the Regional Minister, Ian Austin MP on 15th December 2008.
The four transport schemes we've considered so far are:
- Redevelopment of Birmingham New Street station
- Birmingham International Airport runway extension and surface access strategy
- Birmingham Box Active Traffic Management
- Rail freight upgrades, West Coast mainline to Southampton
The purpose of our research is to begin to understand the cumulative effect these transport schemes could potentially have on the West Midlands' economy and what influence the schemes may have in closing the region's productivity gap.
We'll be developing the work further in 2009, looking at schemes within the Regional Funding Allocation that are already commited.
Our report is available to download in draft form (PDF, 1.9MB) and we'll update this page as we progress during 2009.