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Ensuring Value for Money
Funding for Red Routes has been obtained from Central Government through the submission of a robust business case. To be succesful, the business case is independently reviewed and must comply with strict financial criteria in terms of Value for Money (VFM). To ensure that the VFM of the proposed schemes is maintained they are developed in accordance with an agreed set of Guidelines for Implementation. These guidelines are an important, practical document to ensure the West Midlands Red Routes network can be consistently and successfully delivered.
The Issues / Principles of the Business Case
The West Midlands has a number of challenges to address and the main ones applicable to Red Routes are shown below.
- It is estimated that congestion costs the West Midlands Economy £2.2 billion each year.
- Although the West Midlands has a proven record of reducing accidents more more needs to be done if we are to achieve the next set of targets in LTP3.
- The West Midlands has ambitious targets for noise and air pollution which if they are to be achieved will need congestion reducing measures to be implemented.
Based on this the business case was built on the following principles.
- Improve general traffic journey times by up to 10% and reliability by 20%.
- Reduce in accidents along the route by up to 6%.
Delivering Value for Money
To ensure the principles of the buisness case are followed a set of Guidelines for Implementation has been produced. These have been signed up to by all of the West Midlands authorities to ensure consistent implementation of Red Routes and that the predicted benefits from their implementiation are realised.