Birmingham, 1874: Bustling industrial city exporting goods around the world, cradle of new technology, and centre of prosperity and civic confidence.
But with that rapid economic growth, came smoke, sewage and pollution, and their noxious effects on public health. Don鈥檛 wear yourself out over the sewage question鈥, Lord Mayor Joseph Chamberlain was told by a friend.
But he stepped up and tackled the issue, overseeing civic works on a grand scale, building aqueducts from the Elan Valley in Wales to bring fresh water into the city.
Today we are seeing the renaissance of the West Midlands, with more jobs being created here than in any other region, a trade surplus with China, and businesses like HSBC 海角视频 choosing to relocate to the region.
But alongside this economic success story, Birmingham has some of the highest rates of air pollution in the 海角视频. 1,600 premature deaths each year in the West Midlands are caused by air pollution, and it鈥檚 sadly true that some of our roads have .
In this challenge, we have the opportunity to build a coalition of Government, councils, industry, universities and residents to lead the clean air agenda in the West Midlands and the 海角视频.
Local civic leadership is a vital cornerstone of this coalition. We must step up to tackle the public health crisis which is caused by air pollution for our residents.
Unlike London, we are not yet blessed with an extensive well-integrated public transport network, but we have a clear plan to turn that around in time for the , and the in 2026.
We are building HS2, new rail stations and improving train services in the region. We are creating new rapid bus routes with newer cleaner buses on the network.
We are across the region, creating a 鈥淐rossrail for the West Midlands鈥. We are running schemes to encourage more people to cycle and walk to work or to school.
These infrastructure projects are on a scale which has not been seen in Birmingham and the West Midlands since the nineteenth century.
But they are crucial to ensure that people have a real choice in how they travel around the region. Citizens must be part of our alliance too.
This week Birmingham City Council took the bold step of , and residents have the opportunity to make their views known in the next few weeks on how exactly they believe we should tackle the challenge in the city.
People have already come up with some of the best ideas: an urban National Park around the Tame Valley in Birmingham or an urban green space similar to the New York Highline. There will be difficult choices in this debate, but there is room for creativity and inspiration, particularly where, like urban green space, there is a benefit that people can see and feel today.
The West Midlands is the heart of the 海角视频 automotive industry and our manufacturers are already stepping up to the air quality challenge. The latest diesel engine technology is the cleanest yet, and improving all the time.
NOx and particulate emissions from Jaguar Land Rover diesels are comparable to petrol, with 20 per cent lower CO2 emissions.
These new cars are not contributing substantially to the air quality problems that we see in our cities in the 海角视频. Simply phasing these out by 2030 is not the right answer, because it does not tackle the heavily polluting older vehicles or get people onto public transport.
It鈥檚 clear , and our automotive companies each have their own transition plans.
Geely have invested 拢300 million in building the new electric London taxi and electric vans in Coventry, GKN are investing tens of millions in developing eAxle systems, and Jaguar Land Rover have recently announced that they are spending hundreds of millions more on their Solihull plant to prepare it for the electric vehicle revolution.
Government has supported these developments, funding the new Faraday Battery Institution at Warwick University to research electric battery storage technology here in the 海角视频.
Our Local Industrial Strategy in the West Midlands aims to develop and grow this sector where we already have a world-class competitive advantage.
If we lay the right foundations, new clean vehicles and components will be exported around the world, supporting thousands of jobs and keeping British engineering at the forefront of automotive manufacturing.
We need a thought-through transition plan which gives our manufacturers the time to develop these new technologies and bring them into production.
Finally Government must play its part in this story. The Government鈥檚 鈥楻oad to Zero鈥 Strategy sets out an ambitious approach to air quality, and just as importantly, the Industrial Strategy sets out Clean Growth and Future Transport Technology as two of its four 鈥楪rand Challenges鈥.
Air quality and Industrial Strategy must come together to generate a package of practical support for city-regions like the West Midlands.
We need help to build out charging infrastructure to increase the take up of electric vehicles, to build out 5G networks to allow autonomous vehicles to drive more efficiently.
We need funding for research into electric transport technology and the data that goes with it, and we need the legislative basis to trial these new technologies quickly, so that the West Midlands can compete with Silicon Valley, Stuttgart and Shenzhen.
Cities around the world are taking bold steps to tackle air pollution, from Bogota to Barcelona to Beijing. Birmingham and the West Midlands are stepping up to join them.
Just as Joseph Chamberlain and our forefathers were, let us be determined, ambitious and pragmatic. Let us bring together a clean air coalition to tackle the problem and seize the commercial opportunities.
