Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Transport chiefs aim to buy land for Metro
Transport chiefs in the West Midlands want to plough ahead with negotiations to spend £12 million of taxpayers’ money on buying up land to extend the Midland Metro – even though they are £253 million short of starting to build it.
A Transport and Works Act Order (TWA) granting permission for compulsory purchase orders to build the extension is due to expire in 2010 but can be lengthened if work gets under way. Bosses fear they will lose their right to block any planning applications for buildings next to the Metro tracks if they allow it to collapse.
But the project still needs to raise £253 million and no work on installing the tram lines can start until it is found.
A park-and-ride car park could be built in the Black Country so planning permission is not lost while efforts are made to plug the funding black hole.
Councillors on transport authority Centro’s panel are being asked to vote on taking action on Monday.
The estimated £12 million cost of permanently acquiring the land for the extension would be funded by £7 million from local councils and £5 million from Centro.
Another option is to spend £150,000 extending the powers for another five years.
Almost £2 million is to be invested on acquiring land for the 62-space car park at Dudley Port train station and which Centro hopes will form a crucial part of the extension of the tram lines between Wednesbury and Brierley Hill.
If the Metro extension does not go ahead the park- and-ride can be used for passengers using ordinary trains leaving from Dudley Port.
In a report to Centro’s panel, chief executive Geoff Inskip said the park-and- ride was a “material operation” to preserve the TWA planning powers for the Wednesbury to Brierley Hill extension.
He said: “Allowing the planning and land acquisition powers to lapse would carry a reputational risk for Centro, which has already allowed Midland Metro Act powers to lapse on Wednesbury and Brierley Hill in the 1990s.”
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Taxpayers money? No chance. There is too much of our taxes going to waste.
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These plans have been around for years. Why don’t they just get on with it?!!!
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every city that can do, has a good metro, tram system,get your act together & build the system . just do it.
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another bottomless pit for councilors and the like to pour our money into why dont they accept that they are never going to build this extension why do they keep trying is it to find themselves some thing to do who says its a good idea any way wait till all the shops in wednesbury are closed and all the shoppers have gone to merry hill even someone with half a brain can see why the owners of merry hill want it built just concentate on building small towns back up ie encourage the large stores like m£s instead of driving them away with the stupid rents and taxes they have to pay any i would have thought it was the wrong climate to start bulding thes harebrained schemes does the other bit of the metro pay for itself yet is the public up and running do pigs fly i thought not
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the metro is and always will be a pipe dream for this area it was first mentioned in 1997 and we are still waiting . the present goverment wont put the funds forward because unlike the other metro systems it wont make any money
i tottally agree with geof too if you look what Merry hill as done to dudley in recent years all we have is Bargain food Bargain homes and all the other towns have to pay parking charges but merry hill gets away scot free is this really fair?
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