Reassurances made over new Black Country railway stations after transport cuts announced
Plans to reopen two railway stations in the Black Country will not be affected by cuts announced by new chancellor Rachel Reeves.
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A spokesman for Transport for West Midlands said it would be full steam ahead for the proposed new stations at Willenhall and Darlaston, despite this week's announcement.
On Monday, Miss Reeves announced cuts to a number of major transport projects. One major casualty was the Restoring Your Railways fund, which was created by the previous government to restore railway links closed during the Beeching cuts of the 1960s.
But the new stations being built at Darlaston and Willenhall are funded by the West Midlands Combined Authority, supported by a £1 billion from the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement.
Proposals for a future station at Aldridge, which would be funded through a further devolution settlement, are also unaffected.
However, like all the combined authority's projects, they could still – in theory – be cancelled by new mayor Richard Parker, who has ordered a review of all transport projects to ensure value for money. In practice, the Willenhall and Darlaston schemes are probably too well advanced to be dropped now, although the Aldridge scheme could be more vulnerable.
The spokesman said: "Willenhall and Darlaston are currently under construction and funded from the devolved City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS) fund, and other devolved government and local funding which is not affected by the Chancellor’s announcement.
