Major M6 link road project in Birmingham named as potential risk

Just months after the crisis-hit council passed a vast array of proposed cuts to local services earlier this year, locals have now been told they face potential further misery.

In a recent report, the local authority’s finance director Fiona Greenway warned the level of savings needed for next year was being increased even further.

The briefing said 'additional pressures of £50.8m have been notified' as of July, adding that £74.7million to £79.2million needed to be found to now close the 2025/26 budget gap.

Amid this concerning development, the report also highlighted risks that 'may materialise as issues and lead to future financial pressures'.

They included regeneration and development projects such as Smithfield, Paradise and the Perry Barr Residential Scheme.

Major M6 link road project ‘at risk’

Also among the at risk projects was the A38(M) Tame Valley Viaduct project, described as a 'significant capital project' of approximately £90 million.

In 2021, the government confirmed it would provide some of the funding for essential maintenance work on the vital 'road link' between the city centre and the M6.

Former Transport Minister Baroness Vere described the viaduct at the time as the 'lifeblood of Birmingham' and added it carries tens of thousands of vehicles in and out of the city centre every single day.

Discussing the project, the recent Birmingham City Council report said: “A governance review and health check of the project that sits within Highways and Infrastructure is to begin soon.

“The project is funded by the council and the Department for Transport, however the risks of any overspends or slippage rest with the council.

“Given there is still time before the project reaches completion there is an opportunity to understand and influence the risk to the council.”

The council will therefore be requesting a ‘quantitative risk assessment’ of the project as well as an assessment of the ‘adequacy’ of the budget/funding as well as the contingency built into the budget.

“It is possible that an appropriate contingency may need to be built into the budget,” the report said. “This will be included in our capital forecasts and will be an additional pressure to the council’s finances.”

The council found itself engulfed by a financial crisis due to Birmingham-specific problems, such as an equal pay fiasco and the disastrous implementation of a new IT and finance system, as well as other issues such as the rising demand for services and funding cuts.

Coun Rob Pocock, the cabinet member overseeing the council’s transformation, said recently that the authority needed to transform and fundamentally change the way it worked.

“We are very far away from relaxing and letting things drift along,” he said during last month’s cabinet meeting. “There is under way an intensive programme of work as we speak to address the planning of the budget for 2025/26 and beyond.”