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Economic Development

Concerns remain over 'massive hole' in budget for new stations

Funding still to be secured from Department for Transport for new stations in Birmingham and Walsall

Question marks hang over the funding for Moseley and four other new stations planned in the West Midlands(Image: Mott MacDonald)

Concerns remain over how the construction of five new railway stations in the West Midlands will be funded.

Planning permission has been secured for the quintet of new stations in Kings Heath, Moseley and Hazelwell in Birmingham and Darlaston and Willenhall in Walsall.

The final cost of the schemes is expected to be just over £117 million, with the Birmingham trio estimated at £61.4 million and the pair in Walsall at £55.84 million.

But very little of the required funding is currently in place, with the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) relying on a huge amount of cash from the Department for Transport (DfT) to get the stations over the line.

At the WMCA's latest board meeting, £15 million of funding was agreed for the five stations, subject to receiving the full tranche from the Department for Transport.

Lisa Trickett, Birmingham councillor for Brandwood and Kings Heath, believes announcements around "successful" projects such as these should be put on hold until more concrete funding has been secured.

She said: "What I was going to reflect - and again it's an ongoing concern about how the combined authority does its business - is that there is still a massive hole in the budget for this proposal.