Midlands Connect is too big and secretive – campaigners

GOVERNANCE

Shadow sub-national transport body Midlands Connect should be broken up because it is too big, countryside campaigners have said. 

Midlands Connect is consulting stakeholders on plans to become England’s second statutory sub-national transport body (STB), following in the footsteps of Transport for the North. 

But a call to split the body in two, one body covering the West Midlands and the other the East Midlands, is made in a joint response to the   consultation from the West Midland and East Midland branches of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE).

CPRE says the economies of the West Midlands and East Midlands are only loosely connected and the areas have stronger linkages with other areas. “The West Midlands has stronger links with London, with Mid-Wales, and with the Cheshire-Manchester area, than with the East Midlands,” it says. 

The campaign group criticises  the way Midlands Connect currently conducts its business, saying Midlands Connect has “shoehorned” controversial proposals for a new Western Strategic Route in the West Midlands (LTT 25 May) into its plans “without any public consultation and ignoring their own priorities”.

West Midlands mayor Andy Street does not even support the proposal, says CPRE, and no analysis has been made of the road’s environmental impacts.

CPRE is similarly critical of Midlands Connect’s work on plans for upgrading the A46 to an expressway in Leicestershire. “The proposals were promoted by Midlands Connect without public consultation, and then adopted into the draft Leicestershire Strategic Growth Plan.”

Summarising its dissatisfaction with the shadow STB, CPRE says: “Midlands Connect currently has no engagement with ordinary citizens, landowners, parish councils or public transport users. Its only relationship is with officers and leaders of its constituent local authority members and a limited number of business representatives through the local enterprise partnerships. The website includes no details of who are members of its committees, nor are any minutes or details of those meetings published.”

A Midlands Connect spokesman told LTT: “We thank the CPRE for its consultation response. Midlands Connect is bringing the region together as part of a unique opportunity to dramatically improve connectivity between the East Midlands and West Midlands, benefiting both regions and the wider UK economy. Our landmark 2017 strategy has already articulated a comprehensive range of transport investment opportunities across the Midlands. No proposal will be taken forward unless the benefits outweigh the costs.”