‘Good news’ was Stourbridge MP Cat Eccles’s verdict when MPs took up the change in Westminster. Beneath the dry legal wording sits a simple shift in power: West Midlands Combined Authority will be able to update its key route network itself, rather than waiting for ministers to amend legislation every time the map needs changing. (hansard.parliament.uk) For a region trying to sort bus reliability, freight movement and road safety across council boundaries, that matters more than the title of the order suggests. It is not a new bypass or a flashy funding pot, but it does strip out a layer of Whitehall paperwork that had left the West Midlands as the awkward exception in England’s devolved transport system. (hansard.parliament.uk)

The legal change is tidy but important. The 2026 order removes the old phrase ‘Combined Authority roads’, replaces it with ‘key route network roads’, and drops Schedule 1 from the 2017 order so WMCA can designate or remove roads administratively under section 107ZA of the 2009 Act. In plain English, the list no longer has to be locked into legislation. (lordsbusiness.parliament.uk) Department for Transport officials say that brings WMCA into the same position as every other combined authority. Until now, the West Midlands had to go back through secondary legislation to make changes that other mayoral areas can deal with through their own local process. (lordsbusiness.parliament.uk)

That network is not a side issue. Transport minister Lilian Greenwood told MPs the West Midlands KRN covers about 605 kilometres of road - roughly 7 per cent of the network but carrying around half of all traffic. Those are the corridors doing the hard graft for commuting, buses, freight and cross-boundary trips between Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Walsall and Wolverhampton. (hansard.parliament.uk) Councils still keep the day-to-day job. Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Walsall and Wolverhampton remain the local highways authorities, responsible for management, maintenance and safety, while WMCA keeps strategic oversight and shares certain powers on matters such as street works permit schemes, road safety promotion and agreements with National Highways. (hansard.parliament.uk)

The timing is not random. The Department for Transport’s explanatory memorandum says WMCA has reviewed the network against changed traffic patterns and work on a new local transport plan, and wants the freedom to update key routes without asking Westminster to reopen the law each time. Ministers accepted that the current setup had become a barrier rather than a safeguard. (lordsbusiness.parliament.uk) That matters even more because the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026 strengthened the role of mayors on these roads. The memorandum says a mayor can direct constituent councils on highways, traffic, street works and permit powers for KRN roads, so deciding what sits inside the network is no longer some minor technical footnote. (lordsbusiness.parliament.uk)

WMCA made the case publicly last year. In its consultation material, the authority said it was ‘the only combined authority’ with its KRN fixed in government legislation, which meant it could not easily reflect changed travel patterns or shifts in the road network. An eight-week consultation then ran from 23 June to 15 August 2025. (wmca.org.uk) The consultation drew 171 responses once duplicates were removed. The Department’s memorandum says 69 per cent backed the change, 21 per cent were unsure and 10 per cent opposed it. Supporters tended to argue that WMCA was best placed to take a regional view; critics questioned whether the authority would act in local interests or feared the power could feed what some called ‘anti-car’ policy. (lordsbusiness.parliament.uk)

Eccles told the Commons that the absence of the change had blocked ‘important road safety strategies’ aimed at reducing speed and accidents. Greenwood, for her part, argued that the measure would help road users get safer, smoother journeys while keeping decisions close to the councils and mayor who actually know the network. (hansard.parliament.uk) There is no promised windfall here, and no big new burden either. The explanatory memorandum says the order has no significant effect on businesses, charities or the wider public sector, beyond a small saving in administrative costs when WMCA next wants to alter the network. That is why this looks like dry constitutional plumbing. It is also why it matters: devolved transport powers only mean something if regions can use them without waiting for Whitehall to fetch the spanner. (lordsbusiness.parliament.uk)

For readers outside the West Midlands, this still lands close to home. It is a reminder that devolution is judged not just by mayoral speeches or funding headlines, but by whether regional bodies can make ordinary transport decisions without trekking back to Westminster for permission. On that score, the West Midlands has finally been brought into line with the rest. (lordsbusiness.parliament.uk) The order is due to take effect on 5 August 2026. After that, the real test is not the wording in Westminster but how quickly WMCA and its seven councils use the freedom to keep the region’s busiest roads fit for the way people actually move now. (lordsbusiness.parliament.uk)