Purpose

On the 1 April 2022 the Secretary of State for
Transport confirmed the full funding allocation of the City Region
Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS) programme for the period
April 2022 to March 2027 as submitted to Government by the West
Midlands Combined Authority following its approval at WMCA Board on
14 January 2022. This includes the £29m funding allocated to
Wolverhampton, Sandwell and Dudley MBCs for the A4123 Walk, Cycle
and Bus Measures project, which comprises a multi-modal corridor
scheme focusing on the implementation of walking, wheeling, cycling
and public transport infrastructure improvements. A Strategic
Outline Business Case was produced for the scheme in 2022. The
Outline Business Case was finalised in December 2024 and will be
subsequently submitted to the WMCA for appraisal and
approval.

A report granting ‘in principle’ approval to the A4123
Walk, Cycle and Bus measures project was approved at Cabinet July
2024. The scheme is part of the Council’s programme of
transport infrastructure projects funded through the City Region
Sustainable Transport Settlement, a government fund overseen by the
Department for Transport and devolved to the West Midlands Combined
Authority.

Projects within the programme are reported to Cabinet individually.
Each project must progress through the West Midlands Combined
Authority (WMCA) Single Assurance Framework (SAF) process to enable
funding to be confirmed and allocated to the Council through grant
agreements. There are multiple stages to the SAF process
corresponding with the submission of Strategic Outline Business
Cases (SOBC), Outline Business Cases (OBC), and Full Business Cases
(FBC).

The power to authorise the submission of Outline Business Cases for
CRSTS projects has been delegated to the Executive Director - Place
in order to avoid the need for multiple reports to
Cabinet.

Content

That approval be given for the Outline
Business Case for the A4123 Walk, Cycle and Bus Measures project to
be submitted to the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) for
appraisal and approval.