Strategic economic corridors
Capitalising on exceptional opportunities for growth
Our strategic corridors are the key routes for our region handling most of the people, freight and business that travels between towns and cities in the Midlands Engine region.
The A46 and A50/500 connect most of our major towns and cities to airports, ports and cities outside the Midlands.
These corridors, the economies they support and the communities and businesses they serve are a cornerstone of post-pandemic recovery in our region. Partners across both corridors have committed to undertaking a holistic and coordinated approach to planning along these two routes – addressing job safeguarding and job creation, housing and communities, physical and digital connectivity, skills and technology, research and innovation and green growth.
Stretching for 155 miles from Gloucestershire to Lincolnshire, the A46 corridor is home to 5.5 million people and 2.9 million jobs, with an economic output of £115 billion — nearly 10% of the English economy.
From Stoke-on-Trent to Derby, the 56-mile A50/500 corridor is home to around a million people and half a million jobs, many in globally significant firms such as Toyota, JCB, Rolls-Royce and Bombardier, as well as Stoke-on-Trent’s world-famous ceramics industry.