Controversial proposals to create a western orbital route around Wolverhampton to ease congestion could be dusted off once more, the Express & Star can reveal today.
The Government has been asked to take a fresh look at ripping up green belt around the region to create a 42-mile route designed to free up traffic coming into the Black Country off the M5 and M6 motorways. The idea, first raised back in 1991, has been brought up by the opposition Conservative group in Wolverhampton.
It was rejected more than a decade ago following protests from residents living in villages around South Staffordshire, environmental groups and South Staffordshire Tory MP Sir Patrick Cormack.
Thousands of extra cars are expected to flood into the city once the £300 million Summer Row shopping development is complete, but no solution has yet been found for dealing with congestion. Two weeks ago the council along with the leaders of all the other local authorities around the West Midlands rejected the notion of congestion charging.
Councillor Neville Patten, the Wolverhampton Tory group’s spokesman for transport, said today: “People have talked about having a western orbital for a long time but we have always agreed that it is a good idea, even though the Government keeps saying it won’t do it.
“There is an awful lot of traffic around Wolverhampton and something needs to happen to free it up. It was first raised so long ago, the price of the Western Orbital has probably doubled now.”
The group’s manifesto for the local elections says it will campaign for it to be built. It is estimated it would cost the £2.5 billion every year.
Campaigners around Dudley and Stourbridge have condemned developing on the green belt, but as recently as 2006 the Labour-controlled city council wrote to the Government to ask for a re-think on it.
Council leader Roger Lawrence said: “We have always argued that the concept of some kind of road on the western side of the conurbation would be a good thing for the economy.”
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17 Comments
It’s amazing, lets just dig up more green belt land. Why does no one ever look into public transport. It is rubbish in the midlands especially if you are travveling from South Staffordshire.
why dont they spend on extending the midland metro?
We needed this road 10 years ago, we need it more now. The metro does not cater for people travelling from any distance, or wanting to bypass wolverhampton. The ring road is a joke (whoever thought of putting traffic ligths on a round about needs shooting).
Yet again “our” MP’s do not listen to their voters, this idea has been rejected many times, why has it been pulled out again ? I suspect as usual some MP’s are getting their pockets lined by some of their affiliated businesses to bring it back to life, this idea should be scrapped forever as all it would do is cause more traffic and congestion and then we would need another bypass to bypass the first one.
Totally agree with kat, but if its not roads its houses poping up everywhere.
Let’s not kid ourselves, the Western Orbital is needed - in fact, it’s the only option to improving jobs and wealth.
Wolverhampton is being strangled by traffic. Red Routes are fiercely opposed, congestion charging is out the window, funding for public transport has been taken back by central government, an extensive tram network is a pipe dream, Network Rail won’t invest in 4-tracking Wolverhampton to Coventry or electrifying the line up to Shrewsbury.
At the moment, employment opportunity for people in Wolverhampton is limited to the city, Telford and Birmingham. If an orbital route was available, people could have the chance of working in (and vice versa) Worcester, Redditch, Leamington/Warwick, Tamworth and Lichfield.
THERE IS A VERY HEAVY OUTSTANDING BEAUTY AREA VERSUS STAGNANT COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT ON THE WEST SIDE OF THE
WEST MIDLANDS.THE LOPSIDED DEVELOPMENT OF THE COUNTY DOES HAVE THE ADVANTAGE THAT MOST OF THE TRAFFIC AND INDUSTRY HAS KEPT TO THE EAST LEAVING LOVELY COUNTRY IN THE WEST.THE EAST IS ALSO EARMARKED FOR HS2 THE HIGH SPEED RAIL LINE MISSING BIRMINGHAM CENTRE TO MANCHESTER.IF WE LET THE LOVELY COUNTRY GO ON THE WEST HOUSE VALUES WILL FALL THERE AND AT THE SAME TIME THEY WILL ALSO BECOME TO ACCESSIBLE TO LONDON.
IT IS CLEAR THAT STOURBRIDGE AND THE WEST OF DUDLEY HAVE ALREADY BEEN LEFT STRANGLED IN THEIR TRAFFIC AS A SORT OF PUNISHMENT FOR REFUSING THE ORBITAL LAST TIME.
BESIDES PLEASE NOTE AS IN THE OTHER CONGESTION DEBATE AN ORBITAL ROAD WILL ESENTIALLY BE FOR TRANSIT TRAFFIC BETWEEN LONDON AND ALSO THE SOUTH WEST AND SOUTH WALES TO THE NORTH WEST,SCOTLAND AND NORTH WALES.
OUR BEAUTIFUL COUNTRYSIDE WILL BE CHURNED UP (+ THE BOBBINGTON AIRPORT?)FOR THROUGH TRAFFIC.
IT WILL ALSO BE SATURATED THE DAY IT IS OPENED.WITH OR WITHOUT A HUGE TOLL FOR THESE PEOPLE.
AT THE END OF THE DAY IT WOULD BE BETTER INVESTING IN THINGS LIKE METRO TRAINS VIA SOMETHING LIKE THE EX HIMLEY LINE??????IDEM AN AIRPORT WOULD SUGGEST A RAIL LINK ROUND THE SOUTH OF STOURBRIDGE VIA KINVER.
GIVEN THE COMPARATIVE COSTS…….
where will it go through?
i noted stew’s comment about”who ever thought of ptherseutting traffic lights on a roundabout needs shooting”.somepeople dont learn do they WALSALL council.i think captain chaos disigned the new arboretum island.watch this space there may be trouble ahead
From what I recall of the various (enormous) reports that have been produced this project was not cancelled. A further study was called for and presumably has now been completed.
In the real world it is about measuring the pros and cons. There is a massive economic benefit to be obtained by building this road at some cost to the appearance of the countryside. With sensible design this intrusion needs to be minimal and so long as the route is not littered with junctions there will be no incentive to develop around the road.
Let it be designed to do the job required…. That job should be to divert traffic between the M5 and M6 and to provide adequatye motorway access to the North West of the connurbation, leaving the motorway which stupidly runs straight through residential areas of the four boroughs to carry the local traffic it now is fit only for.
We need a Western Orbital. The current routes to the M5 are ridiculous.
We do not need more cars in the city. Oxford and Shrewsbury have ring and ride schemes that work. The answer is to park outside the city and bus, or tram, in.
City streets should be for people- pedestrians and cyclists - as they are in so much of Northern Europe, not for cars.
Lets ask why do we need this? Is seems to me they want to make our journey’s so unbearable, that we will accept it with open arms.
Take for example the A491 between Kingswinford & Stourbridge. Anyone using this road will know that it has been hell for years, especially during rush hour when most of the timne you do not move.
So what do they do about it, they building more houses, they build on the Gas Works (Kingswinford), Hospital (Wordsley), the shops and parking area at the bottom of Brierley Hill Road, Gas Works (Stourbridge), Glass Works (Amblecote).
This has to be about 1000 new homes, lets say 1250 more cars on a road that could not cope 10 years ago.
There is something going on here, could it be a hidden agenda to get this orbital route or is it just another failing Dudley Council department to add the the list?
i live in sedgley and work in cannock, im against loosing green belt land but must admit the toll road over in cannock has given the area a new lease of life with new companies setting up in the area due to the improved road links. as someone who travels up to scotland and down to london on a regular basis im frequently sat in traffic jams on the m6 m5 or main roads in the area and have found myself wanting the western toll. also if this meant a reduction in the heavy traffic through our smaller towns like sedgley i would welcome it. we need to find a balance between helping the traffic congestion in the area, saving the green belt land and also boosting the local economy.
I dread it… and then the airport… dread… but can they design a road to do the job? Thats the question - because they havent managed to yet.
So the Conservatives in Wolverhampton have decided that it would be a good idea to rip up South Staffs countryside to suit their own ends? Why has no-one in Wolverhampton thought to invest the money in decent public transport instead of the shambles it is today. The people calling for this should consider not standing for any future office given the utter stupidity they are demonstrating. The M6Toll has been a complete failure in relieving traffic…. the Western Orbital would be exactly the same and would only increase traffic rather than relieve congestion.
Once upon a time there was good public transport in Wolverhampton. There was also a good service to surrounding rural areas. It was a very extensive service providing services where they were needed. It was provided by Wolverhampton Corporation Transport Undertaking.
Richard has a point. Abolish the WMPTE/A and bring local services under local control…. bit off the point though.
As a resident of Stourbridge, living in a so- called ‘conservation area’ our residential road is constantly on the receiving end of commuting HGV/commercial traffic emanating from Lydiate Ash/Bromsgrove, Hagley, Pedmore, Halesowen/Lye, Stourbridge/ Norton areas in a bid to reach Wolverhampton and beyond. I have protested to my local MP/Council to have the file on the western orbital resurrected and am glad to see that someone has had the sense to do just that. No one wants to see our green belt land abused, but strongly believe that this is a necessary evil.