Metro opening date for Dudley extension is finally revealed - and it will be more than two years late

At a meeting of Dudley Council’s Communities and Growth Scrutiny Committee, council leaders faced questions on what help was available for traders affected by the delayed works.

The Metro had been earmarked for a 2024 opening and later for a launch in the autumn of 2025. It was later announced the opening would be delayed until the start of this year.

And now the date has been put back yet again, until the end of this summer.

Councillor Steve Edwards wanted to know what was being done to support struggling businesses in Dudley Town centre while they waited for the line, linking the town to Wednesbury, to be finished.

Dudley Council’s leader, Councillor Patrick Harley, said: “The constant delays are unacceptable, we now have a definitive date for when the Metro will be up and running – August 28.”

The line into Dudley was originally planned to open in 2024 before work began on a second phase to take the line to Merry Hill and, when funding was obtained, into Brierley Hill town centre.

Increased costs caused further delays to the project which is managed by Transport for West Midlands, part of West Midland Combined Authority (WMCA).

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Construction of phase one into Dudley should be complete in Spring 2026 however the line will not open to passengers until drivers have completed a training process.

In the meantime Dudley’s leaders have been in talks with the WMCA and West Midlands mayor Richard Parker to negotiate help for town centre business.

Councillor Harley said: “The mayor is very proactive looking at how we can try and offer compensation to some of those businesses that have been affected.

“We can’t offer compensation to them all but the CA are looking at that, to date some, about half a dozen businesses particularly around Birdcage Walk, some of them have received in excess of £100,000.

“There are schemes out there helping businesses but with added delays we need to do more.”

Councillor Edwards said: “That’s still eight months, businesses have closed in the last few months based on the negative impact and we could get to August with a town with even less shops.”

Councillor Harley said: “It could have been planned better, members and the public have to acknowledge this is not a Dudley Council project, we did not control the pace these guys moved.”