Black Country folk are notoriously sceptical when it comes to change. No more so than when it comes to major road improvement schemes given the disruption they have had to endure over the past 2 to 3 years due to delays around the carriageway resurfacing work on the M5 Oldbury Viaduct between Junction’s 1 and 2. Is it any wonder they have a jaundiced view on things.

Express and Star

Work on resurfacing the viaduct began in January 2017. It was planned to be completed by March 2019 yet due to the complicated nature of the work the motorway didn’t get back to three lane working till just before Christmas.

So you can imagine the scepticism as elected members of Walsall Council’s Economy and Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee met earlier this week to discuss an update on the next big road improvement scheme just up the road from the Oldbury Viaduct, the long awaited improvement around Junction 10 of the M6.

The good news is that the contractor who is going the work on behalf of Highways England, John Sisk and son Ltd, has not long finished a similar scheme up in the North East of England on time.

Preparatory work around J10 began last week. Letters had been sent out to nearby residents before Christmas ahead of planned survey work and site clearance. The main construction work is due to start in July and should be completed by October 2021 ahead of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 2022.

Express and Star photo

The total budget for this ‘congestion busting’ scheme is £78 million. 50% of this will come from Highways England. The balance will be funded by the Black Country Local Enterprise Board (LEP) £37 million and Walsall Council the remaining £2 million.

The funding and responsibility for any overspend prompted a question from elected members. We were reassured, in as much that Highways England will be bearing the full casts of any overspend. There will be no financial risk to the Council Tax payers of Walsall.

Concerns were voiced by a number of members about the knock on effects of the planned diversions as the work progresses after July. We all know that Junction 10 has the reputation of being the busiest not only in the UK but also in Europe.

There are those that say that what is planned for J10 is not good enough, and once it’s finished it won’t be long before it reverts back to being Europe’s busiest car park!

In order to get some reassurance that this would not be the case I asked for an explanation as to why a bridge wasn’t included in the proposals and what was the likely life-span for the scheme after completion?

Apparently the costs involved in adding a bridge to take the through traffic between Walsall and Wolverhampton across J10 was prohibitive. As for the life-span? It was expected to be 60 years or perhaps even longer giver the changes that we are likely to be making in how we get about as we come to terms with the effects of climate change.

This comment prompted more questions about the expected levels of congestion as people try to maneuver through the roadworks, along the B464 Wolverhampton Road West. There are tailbacks even today before the work is started, one member even suggested that the bus lane should be suspended during the duration of the work. Officers ruled this suggestion out as it would play havoc with the 529 Platinum bus service between Walsall and Wolverhampton.

It appears that one reason for the long lead time into this project was to give motorists the opportunity to seek out alternative routes for their journeys. Keeping the Bus Lane open would provide a further option for some, that of switching to using public transport. With this in mind. I asked “had Park and Ride provision been considered in order to help motorists access the 529 service more easily.” The answer I got was a bit disappointing to say the least, Park and Ride had not been considered.

This really is a missed opportunity in my view as the motorist is coming under more and more pressure to pay extra to enter city centres such as Birmingham as they face sanctions if they don’t comply with legislation designed to meet emission reduction targets.

Our view on this is that the Metro Mayor, Andy Street, through the West Midlands Combined Authority and with the cooperation of local councils like Walsall, should be taking decisive action to improve public transport. He, of course will argue that he is doing just that with his Enhanced Bus Partnership Plan.

We would argue that this is too little, too late and relies too much on the good will of the big bus operators like National Express West Midlands (NXWM) and Diamond Bus.

Buses were deregulated by Mrs Thatcher’s Conservative Government back in 1986, except that is in London where Transport for London (TfL) continued to regulate buses in the Capital through tightly specified franchises. TfL set everything from routes and timetables, vehicle specifications and driver training. TfL takes on the revenue risk, keeping all the revenue when a route is profitable and taking the hit when they are not. This allows TfL to cross-subsidise unprofitable, but socially valuable routes with profitable routes.

We would argue that the people of the West Midlands deserve the same rights as their counterparts in London. No if’s, no and’s, no but’s, it should be the number one priority here in the West Midlands as everything else, housing, jobs, commerce and leisure stem from the access provided by a well-run, integrated, safe, frequent and relatively inexpensive transport network.

As the debate drew to a close members were given assurances that keeping people informed on the progress of the scheme was of paramount importance and that a well tried, robust system for complaints, comments and suggestions is in place when the main work commences.

There will be further updates to the Scrutiny Committee in the run up to the work starting in July and continuing through to completion in October 2021.