How I'll make the West Midlands successful, by new mayor Richard Parker

It is no secret that I want to bring buses back under public control. The current system isn't working. We need bus services to be more accessible and affordable. On the doorstep I have heard countless tales of people not being able to go to work, their doctors' appointments, or school, because of our inadequate transport system.

Currently, we are pumping almost £75 million of annual subsidies into our bus system to avoid inflation-busting fare increases or severe reductions in services and routes. Public funds are covering more than half the bus operators’ commercial income, yet we have no direct control over routes and services.

Something’s got to change.

I’ve asked for a detailed report outlining options for the West Midlands to be presented to the WMCA Board this summer. It’s a complex bus network with over 300 routes and several large operators, with hundreds of vehicles and thousands of staff.

If agreed, moving to franchising, where the routes would be under public control, could take around two years – from the moment the decision is made to the first buses running on our streets under a new system.

We are also making it easier for people to better plan their journeys and select and pay for their tickets across buses, trams, and trains, using the region’s Swift scheme, to create a truly integrated transport system for the West Midlands. We will continue to invest in our public transport to reduce our reliance on cars, and in turn, make our roads safer from dangerous drivers.

On housing, we are going to do things differently. We have 64,000 people on the housing waiting list, and 20,000 families living in poor quality temporary accommodation.

To fix this housing crisis, my team is already speaking to the Government about releasing the region from its funding straitjacket and about changes to the planning system. We will seek to continue those discussions with any new government following July 4.

The WMCA has an impressive £200 million brownfield housing fund, open to public and private sector developers who share our ambition to bring forward high-quality and genuinely affordable homes.

But we want existing spending restrictions on this funding to be relaxed to drive the construction of thousands of new social homes across the region. At the same time, I am working with Labour’s shadow cabinet to draw attention to the opportunity to use these existing funds to build more social housing.

Removing this funding straitjacket would allow the WMCA, working closely with local councils and housing associations, to intervene in more schemes allowing more urban sites, close to existing public transport, to be unlocked for social and affordable homes.

These changes would unshackle both housing and infrastructure delivery and pave the way for the biggest social housing programme the region has seen in more than 40 years.

We also want to see a rethink of ‘Right to Buy’ for new social housing. People who have lived in their home for years should have the right to buy it - I’m clear about that. But we should protect new social homes from being quickly sold off until we’re able to rebalance the housing stock.

And we are working on ways to help those living in high cost privately rented accommodation by negotiating with government about the introduction of a West Midlands living rent programme to lower the market rate that private landlords charge.

My sole focus is to work with anyone who can help - the government, councils, housing associations, and builders ­– to do everything possible to address the current housing emergency. It is not good enough that in 2024, in the second biggest region in one of the richest countries in the world, thousands of our children are living in cold, damp homes with mould.

I also want to create 150,000 high-quality jobs in our region. I initially left school at 16 but I was lucky enough to be able to go back to education to take some A levels and on to university.

I had an amazing career in business. I want the same security for everyone here. I want to bring together businesses, trade unions, regional institutions, colleges and universities and government departments that operate in our region to create a West Midlands Prosperity Council.

This way we can build on our ambitions to be the first region to develop the jobs and industries of the future and successfully transition to a green economy, building on the skills we already have.

This is my vision for our great region and the place I am privileged to call my home. I know we can change people’s lives for the better. My time here, living in such a wonderful place, has made me realise that improving our buses, skills and housing are the things that really matter to local people and the priorities we need to make real progress on over the next four years.