Mayor of the West Midlands, Andy Street has worked to quash rumours about a lack of funding for the Wednesbury to Brierley Hill leg of the West Midlands Metro project.

Posting on social media, Mr Street confirmed that, despite recent speculation over the future of the route, he had no concerns with its progress. He said:

“I want to be clear about the funding of the Wednesbury to Brierley Hill Metro Extension.

”The funding that we won from Government is still in bank with some local funding, it is sufficient to build the line from Wednesbury to Dudley - with work progressing well as we speak.

“The key issue is the funding for the Brierley Hill leg, as the total project was funded against future fares & profit - and we lost a lot of patronage during the pandemic.

”We remain fully committed to delivering the whole extension, and are exploring different funding options.”

The project was thrown into a state if confusion after Cllr Ian Ward said cuts are being made to public transport services across the region, adding “the truth is, we do not have the money.”