Picture Courtesy BBC News 9 Mar 10

Controversy continues to dog the M6 Active Traffic Management Project between J10 and 10a. The latest issue is the massive size of the new signs which the Highways Agency has begun to erect on top of the new gantrey in the Murdoch Way area to the North of J10 at Walsall.

Councillors in the Willenhall area have requested and got a meeting with the Highways Agency to discuss the gantry which has been erected to the rear of flats in Southey Close, Short Heath reports Liberal Democrat councillor Ian Shires.

Fellow ward councillor Val Woodruff said “Residents are very concerned at what they have seen at Murdoch Way. The motorway there runs through a cutting so is out of view of nearby homes. The new gantry behind Southey Close runs on an embankment so the impact of these massive signs will be right in their faces.”

Councillor Pete Hughes the third member of Willenhall North Lib Dem Focus Team made the point that when Walsall Football Club requested planning permission for their large advertising hoarding the Highways Agency soon put an objection in saying that it would distract motorists. “Talk about double standards” said Pete.

“A meeting has been arranged with the Highways Agency on Friday to thrash out concerns about the Southey Close gantry along with other outstanding issues affecting residents in the New Invention and Short Heath areas of Willenhall” concluded councillor Ian Shires.