Walsall’s Tory leadership seem to be at odds with itself over just how disruptive the impending improvements to J10 of the M6 might be. 

On Thursday 23rd January 2020 Deputy Leader of Walsall Council and Cabinet member for Regeneration, Cllr Adrian Andrew sounded quite upbeat in an article in the Express and Star headed – M6 project ‘will not be like havoc on M5’ – whereas his boss Cllr Mike Bird, the Leader of Walsall Council was not convinced saying  ‘motorists will face chaos’ and ‘It is going to be murder’  in the same newspaper just four days later, Monday 27th January 2020.

There is a school of thought that Cllr Bird took the populist view to divert attention away from another controversy which hit the headlines in the Express and Star a few days before, Tuesday 21st January 2020 to be precise, headed ‘Revealed: The green belt sites on your doorstep planned for 70,000 homes’. Why else would Cllr Bird risk a public disagreement with his Deputy Cllr Andrew?

One of the sites identified in the Black Country Urban Capacity Review December 2019 as being of low impact should it be developed for housing was Swannies Field in Goscote, an area of Walsall which is likely to be a battleground between Cllr Bird’s Tories and Labour in the upcoming local elections in May.

Cllr Bird, as well as being Leader of Walsall Council, heads up the Housing and Land Delivery Board on the West Midlands Combined Authority which is tasked with delivering 215,000 new homes by 2030/31.