A neighbouring website has received many messages about parking and it highlighted relevant comments yesterday under the title:
Business editor Jon Griffin deplores an “Easy scam for councils as our shops pay the price”.
WM’s Adrian Goldberg invited a representative of the Forum for Private Business to speak.
On Friday, Adrian Goldberg’s phone-in on West Midlands Radio focused on the issue of the short but quite expensive Metro extension from Snow Hill to New Street which will cost in total £128m – to save a 5-10 minute walk.
Centro refused to be interviewed saying the issue is political.
Phil Jones, whose Longbridge based firm specialises in the formulation and design of sustainable transport solutions, here and abroad, reflected on the proposal [1.48mins -1.54]. In a wide-ranging interview about connectivity with the suburbs and HS2 – and the relative success of the Manchester system – he said, in answer to Adrian’s question “Is it worth it?”:
“Well it’s more attractive over buses in terms of image”.
Robin Clarke of Tramscam phoned in [2.13mins -2.19] and put the case for increasingly worried bus-users, outlined here recently.
Like WM Radio, we hope to have a further update on Mr Clarke’s legal challenge, noting that he has recently won a concession on a disputed point from the Treasury solicitor.
Did Centro refuse to discuss the Metro extension on air because its case is weak?
Today on a West Midlands BBC radio programme Adrian Goldberg asked whether the Metro extension is worth the sum to be spent on it. Centro refused to discuss the subject on air, saying that it is ‘political’ and the transport expert who spoke at length sounded far from convinced that the Metro was value for money – unfortunately the writer had to answer the door so did not catch his name and company.
Whose interests are being served?
Robin Clarke of Tramscam boldly uses the term ‘scam’ – but perhaps all concerned are merely conforming to the practice of centralised local and national government which cherish corporates rather than those they are elected to serve. He came on air and spoke up for the bus users whose stops are going to be placed on the outskirts of the city, posing obvious problems for the less than athletic.
Will more bus-users turn to the car?
Mr Clarke’s supposition that some would turn to car use, increasing the already serious congestion approaching the city centre, was confirmed by a young neighbour who had not heard of these proposals. I mentioned the proposals to her as we waited at a bus-stop – and on hearing this for the first time, though apparently able-bodied, her immediate response was: “Oh I’ll ask my dad to take me in”.
This subject will not go away
The Goldberg programme has asked for updates about the bus users petition and the legal action; it is good to see that this issue is no longer being kept firmly in the background.
The French have a phrase for it
Another bus-user listener said to me, “The public will only realise the problem when it is too late to do anything about it”.
The phrase is ‘fait accompli’, meaning an action which is completed before those affected by it are in a position to query or reverse it.
Today, Adrian Goldberg highlighted on WM Radio that the council is to raise wholesale market service charges by 50% – despite being a poor landlord and failing to carry out its responsibility to maintain the premises.
OB decided to look further and found a reference in the “2011/12 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE DEPUTY LEADER COUNCILLOR PAUL TILSLEY TO CITY COUNCIL ON TUESDAY 10TH JANUARY 2012”:
Page 7:
The position regarding the Wholesale Market, whilst operating a trading surplus remains a pressure of £0.800m (sic) in respect of ongoing repairs and maintenance costs and a shortfall in income against the target, both caused by concerns with the condition of the infrastructure.
Actions have been put in place to mitigate this pressure by an increase in service charges in 2011/12 from July 2011 (or should it be July 2012?)
A council response to the programme was that council taxpayers cannot continue subsidies as in the past. Its failure to mention that this shortfall was only an issue for the last two or three years raises questions:
The writer has been shown the deplorable state of these council buildings, due to neglect of many years’ standing.
