The Metro Mayor has been pledged between £540 million to £880 million over five years by the Government to improve transport across the West of England.

“City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements” from the Government are only available to areas with Metro Mayors – and only certain Metro Mayor areas have won the cash.

Mr Norris said: “I’m delighted that the West of England will be benefiting from this additional investment and look forward to being at the heart of the delivery of exciting projects to enable people to get around the region swiftly. There are too many traffic jams – but now we’ve got a chance to make a real change.”

The Mayor called on the Bristol Council Mayor and the South Gloucester and Bath and North East Somerset leaders to work with him to ensure local plans are joined up and cohesive. He said: “We’ve got a massive opportunity here and local people will expect us to get on with the job of fixing our broken transport system. Frankly, we must.

“There is a climate emergency and part of meeting our ambitious targets will be enabling more cycling and walking and making switching out of cars the most attractive option.”

In a letter to Dan Norris, Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP, Secretary of State for Transport, said: “Under this settlement, you will design your plans, and have the long-term funding to deliver them, but you will also take responsibility for them. Delivery will be monitored against your transport plans and published in an accessible way that allows your residents to assess your performance against your promises.”