Hundreds of thousands of pounds of additional funding for road schemes across Wolverhampton is supporting city council investment as it works hard to grow the local economy and get the best value for money for residents.

The city council cabinet is today set to approve planned road schemes totalling £11 million for the next 3 years - meaning funding can be allocated and detailed designs drawn up so the schemes can get off the ground as quickly as possible.

Successes over the last year included improvements to the Wobaston Road corridor and Stafford Road corridor. Both were funded through the Government's Local Pinch Point Fund, which aims to remove bottle necks restricting traffic flow and stalling economic growth.

These projects saw an additional investment of more than £3.5 million into the city's road network. The opening of the new motorway junction at i54 enabled operations to begin at Jaguar Land Rover's new engine plant. It was a joint project with Staffordshire County Council with a total investment of £40 million by both councils. Three new cycle routes were also completed as part of a package of measures to improve walking, cycling and public transport after a successful bid to the Local Sustainable Transport Fund.

City council economy leader Peter Bilson said: "We have seen notable successes across the city over the last financial year in terms of major road schemes which support economic growth, alongside structural and maintenance projects which are vital to people and business. Demonstrating that we can deliver road schemes on time and on budget is important when we bid for extra funding. We also continue to work effectively with other councils and businesses to make sure all resources available to us go as far as possible. This means we can invest where it matters, as at i54, to bring business, new jobs and long term benefits to the city."

  • released:  Wednesday 11 March, 2015