Traders' payout talks over A41 Bilston Road works hell
Traders who saw their businesses hammered by months of roadworks on a major city route are set to pitch their case for compensation.
Business owners saw trade slump while workers spent around six months replacing tram tracks down the centre of the A41 Bilston Road.
Despite four firms going bust and others being forced to lay off staff, they were initially told that no compensation would be paid out as part of the scheme.
But now traders have been given a lifeline, after bosses at the West Midlands Combined Authority agreed to hear their case for compensation.
Members of the Bilston Road Action Group will meet with the combined authority at the end of the month.
Abi Hatipoglu, who runs Coffee Express on Bilston Road, plans to attend the meeting on January 29.
“The work has been finished for over a year but we are still being affected by it now,” he said.
“People started using other nearby roads while the work was going on and they haven’t come back. For us the hope of compensation is a lifeline.
“We need help to get back on our feet and repair the damage that has been done.”
Rakesh Ladher, who runs the Red Lion pub on Bilston Road, saw trade at his popular pub collapse overnight, an empty bar replacing one that was previously teeming with regulars.
He said he was going to the meeting “more in hope than expectation”.
“We have been waiting a long time for this and it is still a real struggle,” said Mr Ladher, who is part of the Bilston Road Action Group
“My tea time trade has completely gone. Customers just got sick of the road works and started using pubs on Willenhall Road or Birmingham New Road. Once they’re gone, they don’t come back.
“The work was badly handled and badly communicated from the start. I’ll be interested to see what they come up with.”
East Park Labour councillor Harman Banger said: "Traders will now get a chance to explain the hardship they have suffered as a result of these roadworks.
"It has given people renewed hope that something positive could come out of this after all. The work caused serious problems for traders and many of them are looking for compensation.
"Some businesses did not survive, others have struggled to get back to where they were before the work started. They took out loans from banks and family members to help them keep going.
"The way the Metro works was handled was wrong right from the start. Most people understand that it had to be done, but there was no consideration for the businesses based down there."
Traders initially made calls for compensation and a hardship fund during the works, which lasted from June to December 2017.
A one and a half mile stretch of the road from the city centre was ripped up, placing restrictions on traffic on some sections of the route, while other parts of it went down to one lane causing huge traffic jams.
Traders hope that examples from elsewhere in the country will boost their case.
In 2016 businesses in Birmingham city centre were compensated while the Midland Metro line was extended to Grand Central and the railway station, while Nottingham’s Express Transit system saw traders receive around £15,000.
The Midland Metro Alliance, which carried out the Bilston Road works, has previously said that UK legislation does not allow for compensation for ‘maintenance’ projects.
