£2.5bn western orbital talks move
Attempts are being made to restart discussions on controversial proposals to create a £2.5 billion western orbital route around the west of the Black Country – despite being stopped twice due to protests.
Attempts are being made to restart discussions on controversial proposals to create a £2.5 billion western orbital route around the west of the Black Country – despite being stopped twice due to protests.
Wolverhampton City Council is being asked to link up with Dudley Council and the Chamber of Commerce to take forward the project, which was first unveiled in 1991.
The city's opposition Labour group wants the ruling Tory-Liberal Democrat alliance to team up and look into the costs and benefits of creating a massive 42-mile bypass between the M5 near Stourbridge and the M54 north of Wolverhampton.
The route would skirt several areas including Kidderminster, Stourbridge, Codsall, Codsall Wood, Perton, Pattingham and Wombourne.
Initial plans stalled amid strong protests from people living in villages around South Staffordshire unhappy that it would mean a loss of green belt.
They were revived again but dropped after environmental groups, residents and South Staffordshire Tory MP Sir Patrick Cormack said it would destroy the area.
Before the local elections, the Tory Party said it would lobby the Government for funding to create the route, which experts estimate that would cost £2.5 billion to create. At full council tomorrow, the ruling administration will be asked to commission a detailed study into the costs and benefits of an orbital route, using the help of Dudley Council.
Councillor Peter Bilson, deputy leader of the city's Labour group, said: "We are very serious about this and are expecting quite an interesting debate on it at full council.
"In terms of future challenges, there has been an obvious build-up of traffic around the region which shows no sign of relenting, so we must look at the western orbital again.
"Implications will obviously arise from it, and it gives us the chance to see if the new leadership will hold true to the statements made prior to the local elections." Councillor Neville Patten, leader of the city council, said that the plans hinged on Government funding.
He said: "I don't want to pre-empt what is said at the meeting, but we've done two studies on this in the past and we need the money for it.
"I wish we had £2.5 billion to get it off the ground, put it that way."
Over the last few years many have attempted to get the Western Orbital discussions back on the table.
In 2006, former Mayor Phil Bateman said it would help ease traffic problems and boost the region's economic growth.
