Richard Burden welcomes New Street announcement
Richard Burden has welcomed today’s announcement by the Government to provide almost £400 million of funding to transform Birmingham New Street Station.
Speaking at New Street Station earlier today, the Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly announced that the Government will invest £388 million to redevelop the station – to tackle congestion, boost capacity, improve access and revamp the station’s appearance.
Richard Burden, MP for Birmingham Northfield and Chair of the Birmingham Group of Labour MPs, said:
“It has taken a long time to get here but that does not alter the fact that this is excellent news.
“Today’s announcement means that people coming into Birmingham by public transport will arrive at a gateway that reflects the reality that this is a world class city in a world class region.
“The fact that we have got here shows what can be achieved by teamwork – between national and local government, Advantage West Midlands, Network Rail and transport providers, and the private sector. As Minister for the West Midlands, Liam Byrne MP has played an important role in bringing the partners closer together and I am pleased that as local MPs we have also been able to help by lobbying for the money to be made available. Gisela Stuart MP has done a lot of work to coordinate our efforts in Parliament on the New Street issue.
“But releasing the money is just the start. The important thing now will be to make sure the project goes ahead in a way that maximises the regeneration benefits in practice and which addresses the serious public transport capacity and networking challenges facing the West Midlands over the next thirty years.”
