South Shropshire MP, Philip Dunne, has welcomed £136m for Shropshire as part of the Government’s long-term plan to level up local transport across the county. 

Millions of people in the North and Midlands are set to benefit from £4.7 billion of further investment in local transport made possible by reallocated HS2 funding, with money to improve public transport, reduce congestion and upgrade local bus and train stations. 

It is the first transport budget of its kind that is specifically targeted at smaller cities, towns and rural areas and empowers local people and local leaders to invest in the local transport projects that matter most to their communities.

Shropshire will receive £136,443,000 to improve the local transport connections that people rely on every day.

Local authorities will receive funding from April 2025, giving them time to develop their funding proposals and prepare to hit the ground running to start delivering them as early as possible. Over the seven years as a whole, this funding will be on average at least nine times more than these local authorities currently receive through the local integrated transport block which is the current mechanism for funding local transport improvements in their areas.

The announcement comes as part of the Government’s long-term plan to reallocate the £36 billion saved from HS2 Phase 2 into local transport improvements across the country – benefitting more people, in more places, more quickly than the full HS2 project would have done. This funding increase is for the North and the Midlands because most HS2 savings are from those regions. 

All of the £19.8 billion committed to the Northern leg of HS2 will be reinvested in the North and all of the £9.6 billion committed to the Midlands leg will be reinvested in the Midlands. The £6.5 billion saved through our new approach at Euston will be spread across every other region in the country.

Mr Dunne said:

“By redirecting money that would have been spent on HS2, we are already seeing more investment in local transport in Shropshire, including more money to fill potholes and extending the £2 bus fare cap.

“This significant uplift in transport funding for Shropshire will allow for welcome investment in our local transport infrastructure. Shropshire Council have time to plan how to use this funding to best effect and I shall be pushing for investment in South Shropshire.”