Residents living in the wake of the M6 Active Traffic Management Project between J10 and J10a finally got face to face today (Thursday) with Graham Dalton, the man who heads up the Highways Agency nationally. The meeting took place in Walsall’s Council Chamber.

At the meeting were residents from Willenhall, Bloxwich and Walsall who have had to put up with noise, disturbance, and loss of privacy since they first got to know about the project last year when contractors began chopping down trees ahead of the construction work.

Graham Dalton began by outlining the reasons for the project and admitted that things could have been done differently. He tried to assure the residents that the Highways Agency had learned lessons and that systems had been put in place to keep residents better informed of work which would be carried out in their area.

Residents were then able to air grievances and ask questions of Mr Dalton and his team. It would be fair to say that there was a frank exchange of views and that he was left in no doubt as to the anger residents felt at the way in which they had been treated. Councillors also had their chance to have their say on the matter.

Liberal Democrat councillor Ian Shires, speaking in support of Short Heath and New Invention residents,  raised seven points which he felt needed to be addressed.

He began with the way in which residents and local councillors had first come to realise the extent of the disruption that the project was going to bring.

Notices had been put in the local press as early as the spring of 2008, the Highways Agency used the Walsall Observer and The Birmingham Post to do this. Needless to say, the vast majority of people did not see this. ”There are lessons to be learned from this” said Ian. “When you’re dealing with something which will impact on peoples lives as much as this project has, sticking a notice in a newspaper is not the way to go about it.”

Environmental fencing had been removed purely in the interests of “the business” months in advance, in many instances, of when work actually began. In-spite of assurances that lessons had been learned, this practice continues today. Only this week the residents of Hough Road in Pleck have been treated in the same way as those in the Wood Lane area of Short Heath.

Residents in Broadmeadows Road, Short Heath were subjected to noise and vibration from pile driving only yards from their back gardens, they were virtually left to their own devices. They should have been pointed to legal advice on whether or not they would qualify for compensation. They were failed by both the Highways Agency and Walsall Council who surely had a duty of care.

Even though  residents and local councillors had been assured by Mr Dalton in a letter sent just before Christmas saying that things would improve an emerging issue of drainage off the motorway has shown that there is still a lack of regard for residents.

Even the plus side has been handled badly. Planting of replacement trees and shrubs has begun in some places and is about to begin in others. “This was an opportunity missed” said Ian. “If the Highways Agency had really learned lessons, it could have involved local residents in planning what type of trees and shrubs would be used and where they would be planted” he continued. “Let’s hope that today’s meeting has been a turning point; we’ll have to see. The proof of the pudding is in the eating as they say.”